Shelley and I returned to Wupatki National Monument after eating a late lunch in Flagstaff. This time we head straight to the visitors center and the Wupatki ruins. We were hoping to have enough time to photograph the main ruins and Wukoki ruins prior to sunset.
Upon our return, the winds had picked up and below 30 to 45 miles per hour with gusts over 55 mph. This made filming and photography challenging to the say the least. Nevertheless, I was there and I was going to come away with something.
Wupatki #1 – Wupatki National Monument
For my first composition, I made my way to the leeward side of the ruins. As luck would have it this was also the backlit side of the ruin. I composed this photograph from below the portion of the ruin. By doing this I was able to include hill as my foreground. I was also able to include a contrasting partly cloudy sky flowing over the ruin. While I shot bracketed in the field I was able to pull all of the important details and elements out of one exposure during post-processing. I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 24mm, f/11, and 1/2500 of a second.
Wupatki #2 – Wupatki National Monument
For this composition, I got up close to the ruin and shot wide to broken walls of the pueblo. This photograph shows the stacking and interlocking of the stones of the ruin. I was not really sure about this photograph in the field and now after I have had time with the image I know that it is not my strongest photograph from that location on that day. I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 14mm, f/11, and 1/50 of a second.
Wupatki #3 – Wupatki National Monument
Sometimes when you are in the field looking for compositions you find one that just sings to you. When I was at the Wupatki ruins on the April evening in 2019 this composition drew me in. I knew that I wanted the clouds in the sky to slow and blur. Thus showing the motion that I saw with my eye. I also found this ruined wall leading me into the remains of the pueblo. In order to create the motion effect with the clouds, I slapped on my 10-stop neutral density filter and my circular polarizer on. I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 15mm, f/13, and 119 seconds.
Wupatki #4 – Wupatki National Monument
For my final composition of the day, I went low and wide. I dropped to down at one of the corners of the ruins and zoomed out to 15mm. I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 15mm, f/11, and 1/20 of a second.
If you have not yet read last weeks post about the Lomaki Ruins at Wupatki National Monument please do so by clicking here
If you would like to see the video of our visit to Wupatki Ruins please visit my YouTube Channel by clicking here.
