East South Rim

When I think of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon I think of Grand Canyon Village, a shuttle bus and views that I have seen before.  I have never been to the east end, the road to Cameron, the road less traveled.  The road that passes by the famous and iconic Watchtower.  Along that road there are pullouts, views that have a different angle than the crowded pullouts on the western side and then, there is the final crown, the Watchtower.  Tom and I, along with grandson, Anden, met up with Greg in Williams to drive to the Watchtower.  Goal, a great Golden Hour, or lots of spectacular lightning, or maybe even stay for a Milky Way.  One out of three is pretty good!!

The Canyon was filled with haze.  There are some controlled burns in the area, lots of humidity and a strong enough wind to blow around some dust!  I want to go back to some of those pullouts on better days!

One of several rapids that are enjoyed by river rafters.  Beyond this one is Hance Rapids.  Not a single one of my shots were usable.  With the right lens and some patience I bet it would be fun to capture a group going through one of them.

This is supposed to be Duck Rock.  Must say, though, that it is not as impressive as the Duck Rock in the Chiricahua National Monument.

This is as good as the Golden Hour got!

I guess I need to see it walk like a duck before I am convinced this is a duck (rock).

Anden's capture of that Duck!!

That may be Vishnu Temple in the upper left . . . 

Greg must have gotten tired of the gray haze.  He looked around and found awesome details.

Anden shows us how 'uncrowded' the pull-outs are.  Not too bad really.  He also caught me taking my first shot before heading down a path for a different view.  He is not allowed to take photos of Grandma.  But, cars are a different matter.  Clever kid!!

Storms just kept building up.  Fortunately, we were able to stay out of them and photograph lightning from a safe distance (statement added for mom).

We took a side trip off the road to the Watchtower.  We were looking for Hull Cabin, an off the road cabin that apparently you can actually rent from the Forest Service.  The cabin was in very poor light, but the barn off to the side looked interesting.

All from this trip.  I can hardly wait to go back.  I want to spend a whole bunch more time around the Watchtower.  We did not have enough time to take some walks to see best placement for getting storms, stars and have those shots include the Watchtower.  You can also go into the tower and photograph from the top!  I checked the weather for this weekend and I would go if I could.  Thinking about going, check out Tusayan for a place to stay as it is close and will be nice to stay there if you are late leaving the tower area.  Thanks for joining us. We had fun.

Let's Go To Flag

It is fair to say that there was a lot of anticipation of a fun day by all photoggers!  We all had agreed that it had been too long since we had been out shooting together.  We had a good reason.  Karen was returning to teach.  This would be her last weekend before going back to work.  We love her and wanted to be with her.

So, off we go.  One difference is that this time we had my grandson, Anden (10) with us.  He uses my D300s and brought along his skateboard.  The day started off with the usual, "Pull over.  I want to get a shot . . . !

Sunrise from Verrado.

We made it as far as the McDonald's on I-17 and Carefree (usual meeting place for northbound treks) before our first serious "We were not planning on shooting this but . . . this is good!"  Anden spotted some premium cars and those are of great interest to him these days.  He was joined by Tom (ya'll know about Tom and his relationship to cars . . . . right?).

But, every Saturday that we have been to this McDonald's on our way out of town we have found a most interesting vehicle.  We must have a dozen photos of this old pick-up, from close ups (the spark plug wires are made from barbed wire).

After a reasonable delay, we headed up the hill with Lake Mary and then Mormon Lake in our sights.  Bummer!!  Controlled burns made photography challenging!  First stop is the west end of Lake Mary where we knew there would be no water but were hoping for flowers. There were some shots taken.  Tom and Rick can make anything look interesting!!  Some of us settled on Anden showing us the latest skateboard trick that he was working on.

Ummmmm . . . Rick, are you so desperate that  . . . . well, a tree trunk? Well, as it turned out, he was not focused on the tree trunk.  Much better than that in the image that follows this one.

Such macro photography reminds us that the world is bigger than we might imagine.

From that site we checked out several others along the lake.  Nah!  On to Mormon Lake.  Nah!  So we decided to head to Hart's Prairie for a picnic and more shooting. We found a number of these seemingly abandoned cattle loading chuts.  We were all over them as if we had been stymied for shooting ops for centuries!!!

We found the hill we climbed last time.  It has grown taller since then but we are a determined group.  The grass is taller and the flowers less frequent.  Up we go!!  I had in mind a time-lapse of moving clouds.  Others agreed.  The view from the top is worth the effort!

Anden climbed the hill with us (not without some discomfort of bugs, bees, grasses, etc.). Once his camera was set up for a time-lapse, he struck up a conversation with Karen.  She is teaching 6th grade this year and was interested in his view of what kids his age appreciated in a teacher.  I was listening in and caught that one important thing, according to Anden, was fairness.  She listened and he appreciated her sincere inquiry.  He told me later that he would like to have a teacher like her.  Karen was counting for her time-lapse (Canon cameras lack built-in intervolumeters).  Anden suggested she simply click after his camera goes off (built in).  She smiled and we both agreed that was a pretty smart idea!

Tom passed up the opportunity to climb the hill and instead headed back down the road to an Aspen stand.

TD Hart's Prairie 11.jpg

There were a few flowers on the hill.  Plus, several people took photos of flowers but I really don't know where they belong.  Enjoy them anyway.

Rick is killing me with his 180mm Tamron micro . . . I love this image!!

There is logging in this area.

Fences are often used compositionally to add interest, a leading line . . . there are plenty to choose from in this area.

Whenever Elaine is along we are treated to the unexpected. Elaine is our birder.  Quiet. Patient.  Then I get this image from her!!  I cannot promise that she was with us, that these birds are up there!!  Just excellent.

The managed controlled fires were really getting bad by late afternoon.  Storm clouds were building to the east and south.  We decided to go into Flagstaff and have dinner.  Some of us headed home to interesting skies along the way.  Karen and Dave stayed back, hoping to capture either lightning or the Milky Way. Their images of lightning are awesome!

Long post to celebrate a long day.  Fun day!!! 

A Day and a Half

It started at 3AM.  Explosive light!  KABOOM!!  Lightning that close can rattle your brain!  The heavy rain that followed had me dreading packing the car up.  We are not travelling light and all our expensive gear gets carried into the room every night.

By 5AM, our departure goal, the rain had moved on and stars were overhead.  Whew! As we drove toward Yellowstone the Tetons were ahead of us and it was soon apparent that the storm had move west and was now behind the Tetons.  Lightning was frequent and really lit up the mountains.  STOP!!!  So Oxbow Bend became our morning shot.  We were early and got a good spot.  Later you could not buy a parking space at any price.  As the sunrise replaced the storm, Oxbow once again took on a new look.

 

There were so many people down by the bank of the river.  Quite a crowd! I am thinking of selling warm breakfast burritos out of the back of the Prius while Tom shoots!!

 

After breakfast at the Jackson Lake Lodge we headed north.  The northern edge of the mountain range is not so dramatic, but it appears the lake goes a lot further north than we thought.  Reflections were interesting.

 

By now we have caught up with the storm and we stay with it all the way to Livingston, MT.  As we went through Yellowstone I kept thinking how very different it was from the Teton National Park and the two parks are not that far apart.  The Tetons seem majestic and imposing.  Yellowstone is otherworldly.  As you enter from the south, your first impression is of streams and waterfalls.

Tom got a different take from the same location.  Shooting at the waterfall canyon wall . . . He went sideways on me!! It was raining really hard and he took it quickly.  I felt he would lose too much of it if he straightened it.  I love it so much I am keeping it.

We stopped for lunch just in time for Old Faithful to display her power.  Tom took this image from the second floor balcony of the Old Faithful Lodge.

After lunch we got into the hot pools, paint pots and prismatic springs.  My healthcare background came into full play here.  These are sores!!  Get out a big bandaid and powerful salve. The land steams from unexpected places, even high up in the hills and along the road. The steam smells like sulfur and creates micro-environments where bacteria and algae grow, creating color and scale. With the ever present foreboding storm in the background, we looked for patterns in the sky that would indicate a space for sunlight to emerge.

How about a litttle action?

Recorded with Nikon D800 and processed in Final Cut.

 

 

I tried to capture lightning and so set my camera for longer exposures.  There was lots of lightning behind this scene, but no dice on a capture.  I did, however, get some interesting long time exposure time 'looks'.

We were getting tired of driving in the rain, wiping cameras and tripods dry, slow traffic . . . but . . . one more loop.  It just might be worth stopping and snapping a shot.  By now we were hand holding and just getting a quick one in.  Hahahahaha! Without our support group close at hand we are out of control!! We were between major deluges where we could see dark ahead and darker behind us.  But, don't you think this is a pretty bubbly pot?

Finally, the most fun image . . . Tom loves fonts and lettering.  He admits he does not stink at ink (he doesn't) and as an artist he appreciates a good neon sign (nostalgia kicks in too).  Heated units?  No mention of wifi.

We gave in!!  Support group called.  Where are you?  Far away from night's lodging reservation!  "Get on with it"' they instructed.  We arrived in Livingston, MT in time to get a pizza and go to bed.  It was raining this morning. We have strategically (get the humor here) planned for the next several days and done some laundry.  We are headed to Glacier National Park this afternoon via Missoula.

Escape from your support group and get out and shoot!  We are having an unbelievably great time and hope that our photos make you feel like you are part of our journy.