We did not get to see golden hour sunset light on this shoot, but the distant storm and the heavy clouds approaching were good photographic subjects.
Storm Clouds and Canyon 2
At the risk of being monotonous, I will post a number of images with the main emphasis upon the storm clouds over the Grand Canyon.
Storm Clouds and Canyon 3Storm Clouds and Canyon 4Storm Clouds and Canyon 5
Images 3 and 4 are my favorites of this series, impressive clouds over a magnificent canyon. There were occasional lightening bolts in the distant storm, but I was not fortunate enough to capture any of the sporadic lightening in my shots.
We were at another of the major overlooks at the Grand Canyon North Rim for sunset photography. We had our prepared dinner meal in the parking area prior to hiking to the overlook. As I was sitting on a rock in the shade of a large tree, having a sandwich, I noticed these five pine cones at my feet. They were arranged as shown in the photo. I do not know if these were arrange by nature or if someone did this. Anyway, since it was such a nice arrangement, I photographed it with my iPhone.
Distant Storm
There were already a few photographers at the overlook, claiming their spot, and numerous tourists, but it was not really crowded, so we were able to find places to set up to wait and hope for good sunset light over the canyon.
It was cloudy and we could see a storm on the opposite side of the canyon. While waiting and watching the clouds and light changing. I made numerous images of the canyon with the storm clouds. I again had some problem with choosing foregrounds for this vast canyon. I think the image above might have the best foreground of the images that I got on this shoot.
Storm Clouds and Canyon
In the image above, I’m using the dry drainage as a (weak) leading line into the image and a small portions of a rock ledge as foreground.
Storm Clouds and Canyon
Rotating a little to the left, I included much of the nearby canyon wall in an image. The canyon wall curves into the image pointing towards the distant storm.
Storm Clouds and Canyon
Rotating to the right, I still have the dry drainage in the bottom left, leading towards the storm clouds and the calmer sky on the right with the nearer features of the canyon in the. foreground.
Anticipation
I used a small bush on the rock ledge at the view point as a foreground. My motive for calling this image “Anticipation” is that little bush that I can imagine looking forward to getting some rain from the approaching storm.
Light above the Darkness
Zooming out I was able to include more of the sky. The sunlight is illuminating the upper portion of the storm clouds, while it is dark below. This is my favorite image from this shoot. Be sure to click on it to view on Flickr and on a larger screen to get a better appreciation of the the scene. (All of these images are best viewed on a large screen. Not all of the images in this post are on Flickr. Those that are, have embedded links that will take you to the image on Flickr.
This seems like a good place to end this post. I have more images of the heavy clouds approaching our location that I will include in the next post.
After our first morning shoot at a North Rim overlook, we drove to other view points and hiked short trails to scout for other sunrise and/or sunset photo locations.
A Native American Granary, iPhone Photo
Remnants of a Native American granary is just a short distance from the trailhead for the Cliff Spring Trail.
Cliff Spring Trail Photo, GC North Rim, iPhone PhotoWildflower on cliff wall, iPhone Photo
There were very healthy plants thriving on nutrients obtained from the rocks or minimal soil in crevices in a cliff face.
Wildflower on cliff wall, iPhone PhotoWildflowers on cliff wall, iPhone PhotoAngels Window, iPhone PhotoHazy Canyon, iPhone PhotoRoosevelt Point, iPhone PhotoRoosevelt Point, iPhone PhotoPondering, iPhone Photo
There is a short, easy trail to an overview at Roosevelt Point. The 4 photos above were taken from what may have been the end of the most commonly hiked and easiest portion of this trail. There is a steep step down at one point and a second less steep step down beyond that on the final portion of the trail. It is not actually clear whether the trail beyond the first big step down is part of the official trail or if hikers have extended the trail. I hesitated at the first step down, not sure whether it was wise or allowed to proceed.
After deciding I could make the step down and get back up safely my son and I proceeded along the path. In the photo just above, my son is seen pondering the next step down and trying to decide, if an official trail extends past this point. We noted trees that had been cut beyond this point, suggesting trail blazing, so we proceeded.
Hazy Canyon, iPhone PhotoRoosevelt Point, iPhone Photo
The end of the trail at Roosevelt point is in the photo above. There is a gap in the narrow rock ledge (the one with the rock perched near the end) that one has to carefully step over to get to the end of this ledge.
Roosevelt Point, iPhone Photo
The photo above gives a better indication of the sharp drop off on either side of the narrow ledge at the end of the trail.
Roosevelt Point, iPhone Photo
The photo above is made from as far along the narrow ledge as I dared go and it is probably not safe for anyone to go any further.
GC NR, iPhone Photo
The last image in this post is made from an overlook at the highest view point on the North Rim.
The next post will be for our sunset photo shoot on our second day here.
I continued shooting at an overlook of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim, as the sun rose higher in the sky and peeked through breaks in the clouds.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Note that some of the compositions in this post are similar to those in the previous post, but with varying light conditions.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021Clouds over the Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
This semicircular feature is called Wotan’s Throne.
Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021Vishnu Temple and Wotan’s Throne, Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
The blocky peak in the upper left is called Vishnu Temple.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
The Vishnu Temple feature is in the upper right of this black and white conversion. I like the way this black and white version brings out the layers in rocks, making those layers effective leading lines into the scene.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
The color version above does not have the contrasting “pop” of the black and white version. I’m sure I could edit the color version to brighten the shadows more, but I still think I’d prefer the black and white in this image.
That is all for this morning’s shoot. Stay tuned for the rest of the day’s activity.
We drove to an overlook area on the North Rim for sunrise photos the first morning of our visit. The sky was overcast and the canyon air was hazy. The overcast resulted in intermittent sunrise light. I struggled with how to best present my photo sequences. Should I group them by compositional variations from one spot and show how the light varied from one photo to another, or present them in chronological order. After playing with various scenarios, I decided that chronological order would be the simplest method.
I began taking photos before the sun rose and continued for awhile after sunrise at this first stop of the morning.
Grand Canyon North Rim pre-sunrise, July 17, 2021
The canyon was dark in this pre-sunrise image and I excluded all of the nearby foreground, which from this vantage point consisted mostly of the overhanging rock on the edge of the canyon overlook.
As I alluded to in the previous post, getting interesting foreground in the canyon images was problematic. I had to experiment much with the foreground objects that were available.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Morning Light, July 17, 2021
Pivoting to my right, I included part of the rocky ledge overhang just in front of the overlook. I have mixed feeling about using this foreground and how much to include, so I experimented with compositional variations with the rock ledge as foreground.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
I moved to the far right side of the overlook for this next image, including some of the rocky overhang in the foreground and part of the rock layer a few feet below the rim.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Moving around a bit more on the far right of the overlook area, I included a small tree in the left foreground.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Moving back to the left front of the overlook, I included more of the rock ledge in the image above.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Then moving to the right a little, I’ve included the end most part of the overhanging rock ledge with a gap between portions of the ledge. I think this might work a little better, but it still looks like these foreground objects are more of a distraction than an interesting part of the photos.
Grand Canyon North Rim, Early Light, July 17, 2021
Finally, the very end part of the rock ledge in the foreground.
I think by now it is clear how I struggled with the foreground objects here and the compositional variations are limited at such overlooks. I’m not highly pleased with any of these images, but these do look much better on a large screen.
The sunrise light was still mostly muted in these images. The next part will have some break through sunrise light bringing out more of the features and colors in the canyon rock layers.
Leaving Holbrook, Arizona, I traveled I40 west to US 89 near Flagstaff. The drive on US 89 north is scenic with views of mountain ridges in the distance for long intervals. The scenery gets better on US 89 A with good views of the Vermillion Cliffs. I stopped by the Navajo Bridge over Marble Canyon, walked across the pedestrian bridge and made a few mid-day photos, none of which turned out very well.
The drive westward from the Navajo Bridge has good, close up views of the Vermillion Cliffs. I did not take time in the mid-day to stop for photographs. I hope to get back to this area in the future and have more time to linger and perhaps get a few photographs, when lighting conditions are more favorable.
About 30 miles from Marble Canyon, Arizona, US 89A begins to climb into a mountainous area. The road becomes steep and curvy, requiring reduced speed.
I arrived at Demotte Campground in the Kaibab National Forest early, but my reserved site was empty, so I was allowed an early check in.
There are no electric or water hookup in this campground. There is potable water available in the campground, so one can fill water containers via those water spigots, but not RV tanks. I had plenty of bottled water and a full water reservoir, so I had no reason to use or to check out the local water.
Since there was no electric, I installed my solar panels on my roof rack, mounting them flat this time, rather than trying to angle them in any particular direction. It was cloudy and rainy much of the time that I was there, so the solar panels did not keep the house batteries fully charged all the time. A few times, I had to resort to running my engine either early in the mornings or late in the day to top off the batteries and/or to run the inverter for short periods of time. My batteries are also several years old and I suspect they do not hold a charge as well as new ones would and I will probably have to invest in new batteries within a year.
The campsite hosts were friendly and helpful, they kept the campground looking good and the restrooms (no showers, just pit toilets) were perhaps the cleanest and best maintained that I have seen. Although, I have to say that all of the campsites at which I’ve stayed in U.S. National Forest have been well maintained.
The campsites are closer to each other than I like, but the campsites on either side of mine were often vacant.
The weather was mild during our stay in this area with cool nights and warm, humid days. The nighttime temperatures were mostly in the upper 50s (degF) and the daytime high temps in the 70s to low 80s.
My son and DIL arrived not long after I got set up. After they settled in and had dinner, we drove into the park. The campground was about 12 miles outside of the park boundary and the park is large, so it required fairly long drives to get to anywhere in the park. Staying within the park would have been preferable, but one has to reserve the park facilities far in advance, as this is a very popular place.
Our first stop was at the visitor center area, where we took a short, steep hike down a trail from the parking lot. I made several photos during the hike, but only one looked worth sharing.
Dead Tree and Cloudy Background
This bare, dead tree with sunlight highlights made a stark image with the background clouds.
My experience along this short trail revealed that getting good photographs of the canyon would not be easy. One would think that something as grand and scenic as The Grand Canyon would be an easy place to get great photos, but the vastness of the canyon and the limited, accessible places for getting a clear view of the canyon with interesting foreground, makes it difficult to photograph well.
I continued my whirlwind tour of the Petrified Forest National Park, driving the park road and stoping at a number of pull outs, trail areas and overlooks.
MineralizedColorful Sediment
It was monsoon season in this part of the country. There was evidence of recent rains, heavy water runoff, cloudy sky was common. Distant rainfall is seen in the photo above.
Flowering DesertLong Petrified LogWildflowers and Petrified Log SectionsMineralized
Mineral crystals replaced the original tree fabric, often preserving the detail of the original tree.
Cross SectionPetrified Forest National Park Panorama
This is a vast park with wide open desert vistas and colorful geological features.
Petrified Forest National ForestColorful Sediment
The view from this pull out might be the most beautiful within this park.
Painted DesertTeepeesEroding
It was getting late in the day and I had seen numerous signs in the park reminding visitors of the closing time. It was already past the time suggested for visitors to head for the exits.
As I approached the south exit, I saw that the gate was already closed and for a moment I was concerned that I was going to be stuck in the park. However, the gate would open for those approaching from within the park, so I could get out after hours, but not get back into the park, outside of the open hours. I had wondered about the possibility of remaining within the park for sunset or night photography, but apparently the rangers make a sweep through the park to be sure no one remains for long after the closing time.
I arrived at my RV site and found that no one else was there and it was past the gift shop closing time, so I assumed I would be alone here tonight. Although it was not excessively hot, the sun was still high above the western horizon and it was apparent that my vehicle would heat up quickly with no shade and would require some time to cool to a comfortable temperature for sleeping. So I decided to drive the twenty plus miles into Holbrook, find a place for dinner and maybe a beer.
I had noted a restaurant called the Butterfield Stage Co Steak House as I was passing through on my way to the park. So I decided to check it out.
It was warm in the restaurant, so apparently they either did not have A/C or it was not working well or to save on electricity it was set to a rather warm temperature.
The staff (only seemed to be two) were friendly and courteous. I had my mind set on a steak, but when I looked over the menu, the steaks were all much larger than I could possible consume, so I decided upon Shrimp Scampi, house salad and bottled beer. I had hoped to find a local brew on draft, but only common bottled beers were available. The beer was good, but not as cold as I liked. The food was good and more expensive than I expected. The online reviews were mixed, some raved about this place other condemned it. I liked the western decor, folksy feeling, friendly low key staff and the food. I would give it a high rating, except for the prices, uncomfortably warm temperature and cool beer.
After dinner, I topped off my fuel tank before heading back to my RV site. When I arrived at my site, the sun had just set with a good sunset view from the parking lot. At first, I thought I had pulled into the wrong site, since there was a young female having lunch at the picnic table at my site. I double checked the site number to be sure I was at the right place then got out and greeted the picnicker. She asked if I had this site reserved. When I affirmed that I did she apologized, saying she just wanted to watch the sunset, while having her dinner. I assured her that I was not bothered by her having her meal there. As she gathered her food, I suggested she might as well use one of the other available picnic tables, since no other RVs were there, but she moved back to her vehicle. Maybe I looked like a really scary person, but I think she was just being careful, as one traveling alone should be. She was apparently car camping and her vehicle was still there in the early morning, as I headed out on the last leg of my journey to the Grand Canyon North Rim.
The last stop on my route to the Grand Canyon North Rim in July 2021 was the Petrified Forest National Park. There is an exit to this national park from I40, but I elected to go into Holbrook, Arizona and go to the south entrance, since there is an RV site just outside the park entrance there. That RV site does not take reservations, so I wanted to be sure to get there early to increase my chance of getting a site. There are actually two places across the road from each other here, where RV’s can park. One site is free, first come, first serve, but has no hookups. The other has electric hook up, but no water. I did not need a water hookup, but I wanted electric, since I expected it to be hot and I wanted to be able to use my A/C or, or at least a fan.
I pulled into the Petrified Forest Gift Shop and RV Park and went into the gift shop to secure a site. Some of the reviews that I had read about this site said the staff were unfriendly, but I did not find that to be the case. Instead, I would characterize the two staff/owners as matter of fact and business like. They were not the bubbly personality types we’ve all come to expect at tourist lodgings, motels and hotels, but they were not unfriendly.
I jokingly requested a site with shade and was matter of factly told that there was no shade. I had noted that fact already. There are scattered trees around the edge of the RV parking area, but the vegetation on the trees is insufficient to provide any significant shade at any time of the day.
After getting my assigned site, I drove into the park for a quick tour. This park has gates at the entrances that open at 8AM and close at 5PM, so there is no way in the summer to be anywhere in this park for sunset or sunrise photography.
The visitor center is not far from the entrance and I stopped here, but I did not go in, since I was practicing “social distancing” during the COVID-19 pandemic. I picked up a guide brochure from an outside location behind the visitor center and proceeded to walk the paths. There were a substantial number of visitors, but not so many that one could not maintain a suitable distance from others.
Since it was mid-day with harsh overhead light, I elected not to carry around my heavy DSLR and to shoot with my iPhone camera. I do not even pretend to have great photos from this park.
Summer Learning
There appear to be educational opportunities here and this seems to be a good place for lessons in the geological history of this area.
Big Petrified Tree
The base of the petrified tree in the photo above is about 10 feet in diameter. This is a clear indication of the size of the trees in the prehistoric forest that was once here.
Petrified Log Sections
Indeed, the size of the petrified logs here is impressive.
Petrified Log SectionsPetrified Log Sections
What a magnificent forest this must have been!
Observers
I noted a little girl and her dog watching me, so I had to include them in a photo.
Cactus and Petrified Log SectionsPetrified Tree
Satisfied that I had seen everything behind the visitor center, I decided to hike to the “Agate House”, which was mentioned in the brochure. The Agate House is little over a mile from the visitor center. It was hot, but, with the temperature in the low 90s, not nearly as hot as I had expected for this time of the year. I took a bottle of cold water with me to be sure I did not get dehydrated. The hike is an easy one and is on a paved trail. The first portion of the hike is on the remnant of an asphalt road, which ends at what used to be a parking area, then the trail continues on a narrower path to the house.
Along the route, I caught a glimpse of a colorful desert creature moving amid the rocks beside the trail.
Collared Lizard
Fortunately, this colorful lizard remained perched on a rock just long enough for me to get a good photo before it disappeared into the jumble of broken petrified tree pieces.
Petrified JumbleAgate House
The Agate House is actually a partially restored Native American dwelling. The restoration was done via a works program during the Great Depression. Current practice is to leave ruins as they are found, rather than to attempt reconstruction.
Agate House
I returned to my vehicle at the visitor center parking lot and continued my quick tour of this park.
I just realized that I had overlooked a few items that I wanted to get into a post, after I already have a number of post scheduled. So to keep with the chronological order that I prefer for my posts, I’m slipping in an additional post this week, rather than rework my scheduled post dates.
Pontiac
In route to the Grand Canyon North Rim, I spotted a couple of old, rusting away automobiles that I took time to shoot. This Pontiac was located such that I could not get good, isolated images without including distracting items in the photos. This cropped image is the best that I could get.
Rusty Ford Automobile
Parked in front of a church, as if waiting for AAA, to replace a tire, is this rusty, early Ford.
Crank ReadyEarly Ford Automobile
Looks like this old Ford has been here a long time.
Abandoned Church Exterior, Front and East Side, New Mexico
After photographing the exterior of this old, abandoned church at the outskirts of a small New Mexico town, I ventured through the open doorway (there was no door) to check out the interior.
Abandoned Church, Interior Graffiti, Just inside the doorway
I had noted much graffiti just looking through the doorway and windows. Judging by the dates and graffiti messages, it looks like this place is popular with teenagers, presumably local ones, since this is a long way from any other towns or cities.
Abandoned Church, Interior and Graffiti
Shooting handheld in the dim light inside the church required high ISO to get sufficiently high shutter speeds to avoid fuzzy images. Shooting through windows from inside resulted in blowing out the exterior portions of the images.
Abandoned Church, Interior and Graffiti, Pulpit
I’ve brought out some of the exterior details in the editing process in the image above just to avoid having a white blur in the windows. The exterior details through the windows are very low quality as a result. If I had not been shooting handheld, I could have acquired images to create HDR images.
The floor boards were still sound, so maybe the missing boards are a result of someone looking for hidden treasure.
Abandoned Church, Interior, Ceiling
The ceiling bead board had a nice patina and mostly appeared to be in good condition. The covers to the ceiling light fixtures were all missing, presumably broken or maybe stolen. There were remnants of broken light bulbs in the fixtures.
There were no window panes so a breeze through the windows made the hanging light fixtures sway. I had to increase the ISO even more to freeze the motion of these.
Obviously some electrical item had been removed from the central portion of the ceiling. I’m guessing a ceiling fan had been here and has been stolen, if not removed legally, since those early day fans might be valuable antiques.
