FUJIFILM X-T1 (55mm, f/5.6, 1/90 sec, ISO200)
I always wanted to come here since I saw a picture of Mesa Verde’s Cliff Palace. Last year I finally managed to get here.
These houses are the only buildings in the USA that are older than 500 years. Another stunning reminder of how young the US are. Those buildings go back to the time before Columbus discovered America.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/70 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO250)
First we walked down to the Spruce Tree House. This is already and impressive sight. The sun was behind the clouds so the contrast in the shots of the first location was low. They still give a good overview about the site which was surprisingly compact. I guess it’s because the people were much smaller almost 1.000 years ago.
When we were waiting for the Cliff Palace tour to start the sun came out again. That’s the good thing about a trip to the South West of the USA. It’s sunny most of the time. When I was young I traveled to Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia a lot. Now I prefer warmer and drier places to compensate for the lack of sun I have at home.
While waiting I took the shot that got me here in the first place. Right from the little viewing terrace above the Cliff Palace. That’s the other great thing about the US. With just a couple of exceptions you don’t have to hike for hours to get to the spot. Usually it is just a couple of steps from the parking lot. I guess that’s the reason why full frame DSLRs and big lenses still rule here. There is no point in having a super light camera gear if you just have to carry it from the parking lot to the nearby viewpoint and back.
Just recently I walked 20km on my first day in Hongkong. When you do that you want to have light gear. Here weight doesn’t matter but I don’t think that I would have taken different images with my bigger camera. I would have taken the images from the viewpoint with the 24-70 and the other images with the 16-35 lens (most likely around 18-22mm). Still a rather massive gear compared to what I have used here. I start to think that travel photography with smaller camera gear is more elegant even here where it doesn’t matter a lot.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (30.2mm, f/8, 1/420 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/340 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/420 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/320 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/210 sec, ISO200)
As usual I shot only with the 14mm lens. To me this is the most important lens in the whole range. The real reason to shoot a Fuji X camera beside the very nice ergonomics of course. This lens is just wide enough to capture the whole scenery without being too extreme. Maybe 16mm would be better for some shots but usually I really prefer the wider angle.
One of the biggest advantages is that most of the time you don’t have to tilt the camera up to capture the whole building. Tilting the camera up always results into distortion and the well known backward leaning buildings. Those are really dreadful an I try to avoid them as good as I can. With the 14mm it is easier to keep the camera straight and still capture the whole subject. Another great thing about this lens is that it has no distortion by itself or there is some correction going on in the RAW file when I load the images into LR. Whatever it is the results are stunning.
I owned the Fuji XF 18mm and liked it because of its fast AF and fast aperture but I hated its distortion and so sold it. I also don’t like the 18-55 on its wide end for the same reason. It is a great kit lens but when I shoot it I always think that the shot might have looked a lot better with the 14mm or even the 16-50.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/9, 1/480 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/9, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/900 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO400)
I did not talked a lot about the buildings and the site itself and I think the reason is because the place didn’t really touch me. I don’t know why and I don’t know how to describe it but when you are i.e. on the top of Skellig Michael you know that you are on a very special spot. You know that your are in a one of a kind location and those special locations do something to you. That’s something you can feel very strongly. There are not too many places that really can do this and even less are man made but Mesa Verde is not one of them.
Maybe because it is less exposed to the elements. It is the opposite because the Anazasi were clever enough to use the Cliff as an ultimate shelter from the elements. How can I even compare it to a monastery on top of a wind swept rock in the Atlantic ocean. It is stupid to compare them. Maybe it is because I was expecting too much. I don’t know. If you haven’t been here you should visit the place but I don’t think it’s worth to cross an ocean for it. Why you should cross that ocean is the fantastic landscape of the South West that you can’t find elsewhere. That’s the reason I keep coming here since my first visit in 2010.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO200)