Sunrise to sunset, one end to another, and a hike into the canyon. That was my day today. I began my day by getting up a little before 5:30 to drive out to the east end of the park near Desert View for sunrise. All went well, There were a few nice wispy clouds and the light broke through long enough to light up the north rim. I did manage to take a short tumble and in the process I tore my winter pants, this was my first morning to actually wear them. Oh well.

After sunrise I drive back to my trailer in Grand Canyon Village. I needed to catch up my journal entries, prep for my presentation tomorrow, and I needed a little rest. After all that and a little breakfast I headed out the door for a hike down Bright Angel Trail (my first time into the canyon) to the 3-mile rest house.

Six miles round trip and a little over 2,100 feet loss and gained again in 4-hours with a 20 minute lunch break and a few photos on the return trip to the rim. There was some ice on the first mile of the trail, but otherwise the trail appeared to be in good shape, although I wouldn’t know any different since I’ve never hiked it before. I’ll be doing several hikes into the canyon over the next several days and in two weeks I will be hiking down to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. I can’t wait. Getting below the rim is an amazing experience.

After my hike down Bright Angel Trail I headed over to the Verkamps’s Visitor Center to take care of a few last minute details for tomorrows presentation.

I was going to head home and call it a day, but after seeing the sky begin to fill with clouds I decided to head out Mohave Point on the Hermit’s Rest Road for sunset. This is a great spot because it sees very few visitors and you have a view down to the river.

Oh, and the last thing, updating the blog at 11:30 at night. I sure hope I spelled everything correctly. Good night.

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1. I’m off to Phantom Ranch
2. Happy Birthday, Dad
3. Featured Picture at FrameDestination.com

What a difference two years makes.

I’ve driven Mokee Dugway on Highway 261 countless times and I remember always seeing a few stickers on the sign at the top of the switcbacks, but I wasn’t prepared for what i found this past May on my drive to the top. As you can see in the above photo, the sign is nearly completely covered with stickers from passing tourists. I wonder how long it will be before the Utah Department of Transportation replaces the sign and the process starts all over.

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Panoramic Dawn ~ Monument Valley

It’s time to start posting some new images again. Today I offer a panoramic of dawn over Monument Valley. I had actually captured this same scene 4 years ago with my old 6 megapixel Canon Rebel and cropped it down to create a panoramic crop. I loved that image but it was impossible to make a large print since I was only working with 3 megapixels after the crop.

For the past 4 years I’ve been wanting to recapture this scene, but this time with a better camera and with multiple images stitched together. I’ve tried many times but ran into many problems including clear skies, and high wind. Clear skies aren’t such a bad thing, other than they are quite boring for most landscape photography, but the wind would keep me from getting a sharp photo and would make it difficult to stitch together multiple images.

This past May I made another attempt. I was pleasantly surprised to awake to pleasant temperatures, soft clouds, and a calm breeze. I setup my camera and tripod in the dark (4:30am to be exact) and waited for first light. I knew from past attempts that I didn’t want any direct light on the landscape because the red rock in the foreground cliffs is very brilliant when the sunlight strikes it, distracting from the rest of the scene. I managed to capture the three exposures I needed just before the light started to illuminate the cliffs.

After stitching the three images together, the resulting image is 28.3 megapixels. At full resolution you can clearly see the West Mitten, Three Sisters, the “Hub”, and even Agathla Peak which is over 30 miles away (as the raven flies) near the town of Kayenta, Arizona.

This image is available in a limited edition of 50 prints. Please contact me for pricing and availability.

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2. Today’s Image ~ On the road again…
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Details: Canon 5D, 24-70mm f/2.8L at 48mm.

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1. Sunrise on Mount Hayden – Grand Canyon National Park
2. The smiling faces of Grand Canyon National Park.
3. A Winter Scene, Grand Canyon National Park

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I had to dig into my archives for this one, all the way back to my days of shooting Fuji Velvia slide film. I’ve shot countless photos in the Taos area over the years, but this is still one of my favorites.

For my first two years living hear I rented a small place in Ranchos de Taos, one block from the historic Saint Francis de Asis church which is easily one of the most photographed buildings in North America. When the light was good I’d make my way to the church with camera in hand. On this particular evening I was being shadowed by a dog (probably looking for a handout) as I explored the light on the church. I kept tripping over him as I’d back up to reposition my tripod, or he would wonder into the shot often getting right in front of the camera. The dog was frustrating the heck out of me.

Then it came to me. I’ve got plenty of photos of the church, why couldn’t the dog be the subject? I couldn’t believe it when I patted the top of the adobe wall that surrounds the church’s plaza and the dog obediently jumped up onto it. He sat there very patiently as I took several photos of him basked in the late afternoon light with the church in the background. What a great dog and another great moment in Taos.

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Photographed with the Canon G9, raw, macro mode, and manual focus.

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1. Today’s Image ~ Storm on Pueblo Peak
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This image was shot hand-held with a Canon 5D, 70-200mm lens and 1.4x tele-converter.

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A West Texas rainbow over my truck.

The weather was excellent with highs in the low 80s, the wind was calm, and mother nature provided some nice clouds. On the morning we left Terlingua for the return trip to New Mexico we ran into storms with high-winds and very threatening skies, but as we approached the town of Alpine, Texas the storms began to clear and we were treated to this beautiful rainbow.

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 5D and 17-40/4L lens set at 24mm. Please click on the image for an expanded view.

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The View
Canon 5D, 24-70/2.8L, Singh-Ray graduated ND filter

I’m often asked why I moved to New Mexico, and more specifically Taos. My answer is the same every time, the view.

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1. Today’s Image ~ A Winter Sunset on Taos Mountain
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