The photos in this post are from the final morning of this visit to the North Rim.
Next up, more exploration and Marble Canyon Views.
Until then,
Ken
Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 9
Tag: Cloudy
Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 8
At the outward end of our hike, we scrambled onto boulders for good views of the canyon and the distant storm.
The best view into the canyon was in one direction, so I shot in that direction, towards the distant storm, varying the foreground and the horizontal and vertical angles, experimenting with compositional variations with the same general view of the canyon.
I used the portion of the canyon immediately below the view point as a leading line towards the main canyon and the storm in the distance.
Unlike those that are naturally artistic, I often do not immediately see “the composition” that I want. I enjoy trying different compositions and I’m often surprised at how I perceive the results, after having time to review and edit the photos. Often, the images I like the best are not the ones that others favor, which may be an indication of my natural bent towards seeing things in a more scientifically curious way, rather than in an artistic manner.
As always, readers comments and opinions are welcome,
Ken
Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 7
The longest hike we did while at the Grand Canyon North Rim was one that generally followed along the canyon rim, but was mostly in forest with occasional good views of the canyon.
The first three images contain the same canyon features with varying compositions and view points.
The tree leaning into another reminded me of a couple sharing this grand view.
The sky was mostly cloudy, as was typical during our visit, and the canyon was hazy.
Again today, there was a storm in the distance and rain threatened to catch us on the trail.
I will continue with more photos from this hike in a subsequent post.
Ken
Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 6
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.
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.
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.
Until next time,
Ken
Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 5
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Until then,
Ken
Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 4
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.
Remnants of a Native American granary is just a short distance from the trailhead for the Cliff Spring Trail.
There were very healthy plants thriving on nutrients obtained from the rocks or minimal soil in crevices in a cliff face.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Until then,
Ken
Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 3
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.
Note that some of the compositions in this post are similar to those in the previous post, but with varying light conditions.
This semicircular feature is called Wotan’s Throne.
The blocky peak in the upper left is called Vishnu Temple.
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.
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.
Ken
Grand Canyon, North Rim, July 2021, Part 2
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.
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.
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.
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.
Moving around a bit more on the far right of the overlook area, I included a small tree in the left foreground.
Moving back to the left front of the overlook, I included more of the rock ledge in the image above.
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.
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.
Until next time,
Ken
The Grand Canyon, North Rim, Arizona, Part 1
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.
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.
More later,
Ken
Bisti Wilderness, June, 2021, Part 13
This large hoodoo seems to be standing guard for those in the valley below it, ready to alert of approaching photographers.
I spotted the hoodoo above from a far distance as it stands out very distinctly in this broad valley in the Bisti Wilderness of New Mexico. I had scouted around it looking for ways to photograph it and found what I thought were promising compositions, only to discover that many of those compositions did not work out well.
It was a cloudy afternoon, but some rays of golden hour sunset light broke through.
I was in a dead end spur off of a big valley and went into this small nook, where I noted interesting rock features and hoodoos with the golden hour light on the top of the background hills and blue sky with fluffy clouds above. My son was calling for me to come out into the main valley, where the day’s final rays of light was peaking, so I hastened to get this shot, not at all sure it would be worthwhile; but I think it turned out well.
So there you have it, the final part of this visit to Bisti. I do not usually include so many photos in one post, but since this is part 13 and I had exactly 13 photos to wrap up this Bisti visit, it seems fitting to end it so.
If you can, please look at these images on my Flickr page and on a big screen, where the details are much better viewed.
Revisiting these images has put me in the mood for another visit to Bisti, but it might be some time before I can get back, so readers will not have to suffer through more Bisti any time soon.
Stay safe and thanks for following,
Ken
P.S. Actually, I just remembered that there is one remaining item for this visit: Night photography with stars and maybe the Milky Way, if I ever get around to finishing the editing, which is always a pain for such images, so I tend to procrastinate with that task. There will probably only be one or two or three photos, so that post will be short.