As sunset approached, I hiked back into the area around my campsite with my DSLR for a sunset shoot. As usual, I went out earlier than I thought necessary. Even so, my timing was off. Some of the features that I had anticipated shooting, were already in shadow, well before sunset. So I had to give up on some of the preplanned shot locations.
Golden Hour, Palo Duro Canyon
My first stop was at this vey tilted rock or hoodoo nearest to the campground. It was in full late day sunlight and I could see that there were already shadows on the big hillside in the distance.
Cacti and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon
I found this batch of prickly pear cacti that were still getting some late day rays, with the red hill behind them mostly in shadow.
Tiny Desert Tree and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon
Even though the light was much less than I had planned to see, I like this composition with the small, weakly lit tree and the big red hill in the background.
Late Day Deep in Palo Duro Canyon
I like the sinuous leading line formed by this drainage with green grass contrasting with the red earth and the change in lighting from the right side to the left of this image
Boulders and Red Hills, Palo Duro CanyonMoon over Tilted Hoodoo, Palo Duro CanyonDesert Evening
I converted this final image, made from the top of the hill from which I had photographed during my scouting hike, to black and white, to get a more dramatic late day image.
I tried capturing more images of the moon over this hilltop, shooting from a location on the side of the hill with tilted rocks pointing at the moon, but I could not get a good image with the lens I had chosen to use today.
The light in the canyon was dim, but the clouds kept changing and I continued to snap photos, capturing the changing clouds and light.
Sunset Clouds and Canyon 2Sunset Clouds and Canyon 3Near Sunset
As it got nearer sunset time, reflected light from the clouds, brightened the canyon and gave it a warm glow. The photo above has the best of the sunset light during this shoot.
Clouds and Moon over Grand Canyon
The moon rose, while we were here, but it was completely obscured by the clouds, until it was high in the sky. It is barely visible in this image near the upper right of center. Click on the image to get a better view on Flickr (best viewed on a large screen).
Cloudy Sunset, iPhone Photo
While waiting and watching the sky, I walked around, capturing a few images with my iPhone.
iPhone Panorama, GC NR Overlook
This wraps up my July, 2021 visit to the Grand Canyon North Rim.
[I accidentally published this prematurely about a month ago before the draft was fully complete, so I’m republishing this with the final updates]
We shot at this location one morning and decided to try here at sunset on our final day in the park. It was heavily overcast, but we could see some breaks in the clouds, so we hoped to get some good light as the sun set behind us.
Clouds and Canyon 1Clouds and Canyon 2
As we waited for sunset, I captured numerous photos of the clouds over the canyon as the light varied from dim to less dim.
Cloudy Canyon 1Clouds and Canyon 2Clouds over Grand CanyonSunset Clouds 1
The clouds above the distant horizon finally began to glow dimly in the late day light.
Sunset Clouds 2Sunset Clouds and Canyon
In the final image for this post, the clouds were brighter and reflecting light into the canyon, bringing out more detail in the canyon.
Prior to going to our selected view point for sunset photos, we stopped by Roosevelt Point again. We had scouted this area on a previous day. Today we hiked the trail as far as it was safe to go, this time with our DSLR and gear.
Roosevelt Point
Those with acrophobia or anyone not sure footed should not go here.
As is apparent in these photos, it was mostly cloudy with some breaks in the clouds in the distance.
Roosevelt Point and Photographer
When I was shooting here, I was thinking the first image, with its wider view across the canyon, was going to be my best shot, but now I think the second one is the better of these two.
We arrived at a national forest primitive camping area in the mid-day to early afternoon, where there were views across the canyon to Marble Canyon in the distance.
Marble Canyon ViewCloud Shadows
There is a trailhead here and we hike a short distance along the trail, down a steep slope then up a steep slope, to check out other views across the canyon.
Clouds and CanyonCloudy AfternoonGet the ShotMarble Canyon Distant View
After our morning shoot, we drove around to explore the local area, getting to a couple of places with overviews of Marble Canyon in the distance. At one of these areas I photographed a couple of interesting trees with the cloudy sky and/or the canyon in the background.
Tree and Clouds, Original Color Version
This lopsided tree was easily isolated against the cloudy sky.
Tree and Clouds, Black and White Version
I think the black and white version of this image is more dramatic.
Enduring
I captured several compositions of this deformed or broken tree with the clouds and canyon in the background.
Deformed Tree, Canyon and Clouds 1Deformed Tree, Canyon and Clouds 2, Vertical Shot.
I like the third image (vertical) of the deformed tree best, with the first (horizontal) a close second.
At the outward end of our hike, we scrambled onto boulders for good views of the canyon and the distant storm.
Boulders, Canyon and Storm Clouds
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.
Canyon and Storm
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.
Canyon, Canyon Rim and StormCanyon and StormApproaching StormBoulders, Canyon and StormStormy OutlookDark CanyonDistant StormStorm’s A Coming
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,
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.
View from a trailClouds over the Canyon
The first three images contain the same canyon features with varying compositions and view points.
Intimate Moment
The tree leaning into another reminded me of a couple sharing this grand view.
Clouds and Canyon
The sky was mostly cloudy, as was typical during our visit, and the canyon was hazy.
Along the TrailNear a TrailStorm over the Canyon
Again today, there was a storm in the distance and rain threatened to catch us on the trail.
Storm CoudsTrees, Canyon and Storm Clouds
I will continue with more photos from this hike in a subsequent post.
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.
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.
