Tag Archives: grand canyon

North Rim

Nancy and I took a trip to Arizona and Utah many years ago.  It proved to be a really excellent trip and we saw some amazing locations.  The first stop on the trip was the Grand Canyon.  While the majority of visitors go to the South Rim of the canyon, this trip took us to the North Rim.  The two locations are not far apart but to get from one to the other involves hours of driving.  Apparently, there is some canyon in the way!

The North Rim is accessible for a smaller part of the year because it gets snowed in and doesn’t clear out until late in spring.  The views are supposed to be similar on either side but the lack of people at the North Rim makes it a more peaceful place to visit apparently (I haven’t been to the South Rim so can’t speak with authority).  The scenery was definitely beautiful.  We had some cloudy times and some very clear weather.  At night you could look at an amazing night sky.

The problem with the Grand Canyon is that there is little you can do to convey the scale.  Images are really not able to provide an understanding of just how vast the place is.  You can see it is pretty, but the experience is not reproduced.  To be honest, even when I was there, I found it hard to appreciate the scale.  With so little to reference, you struggle to realize what is close and what is far away.  Occasionally, if you see a boat on the Colorado River, you realize just how immense it all is.  Awesome is a word that should be used when describing the Grand Canyon!

I haven’t looked at these pictures for years.  I realize that I took some of them as examples at the time and then focused on those.  I haven’t been through some of the others.  With newer processing techniques, there is plenty to be done with some of the shots I have overlooked.  I shall be playing with this for quite a while I think.

Grand Canyon Spotting

wpid13477-AU0E8660.jpgI was flying from the Midwest back to California a few weeks back and had to change planes in Las Vegas. This is not one of my favorite things to do as I find the airport in Vegas to be horribly depressing. However, the route to Vegas took us close to the Grand Canyon. The crew announced that we were coming up on the Canyon so I got the camera out. Shooting through aircraft windows is never a great task but it was still cool to see so here is a little of what the view was like.

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Grand Canyon

wpid9199-CRW_5888.jpgMy friend Jo Hunter recently blogged about her trip from Texas to Las Vegas and back.  She saw and did many interesting things en route so I would suggest you check it out at Futurshox.  Part of her trip took her to the Grand Canyon.  Nancy and I made a trip to the North Rim of the canyon quite a few years ago.  I decided to take another look at some of the pictures from that time.  One point of having pictures is so that you can go back and take another look to remember what you did in days gone by.

wpid9213-CRW_6091.jpgAnother thing if you are a photographer is to go back and see what you did with those pictures and whether anything you have learned since might give them a new lease on life.  One thing is the different processing tools that are available.  Another is your approach to using those tools.  Consequently, I had a look through a few of the shots and decided to give them a go.

wpid9209-CRW_6058.jpgIt is a little sad to see how many cameras I have been through since that trip.  These were taken with my first DSLR at a time when it was still relevant to use the term DSLR.  Nowadays, there are hardly any SLRs around that aren’t digital so perhaps we should just call them SLRs again.  Anyway, I digress.  Despite the lower resolution, the image quality from that old body is really not too shabby.  I had full page magazine images from that camera and they looked great.  It might have been a bit restricted in how far you could push it but it still worked well.

wpid9205-CRW_6003.jpgEnough blathering, here are the shots.  It has got me excited about that part of the world again.  I suppose a trip down there may be another thing to add to the list.  Of course, the list never gets shorter.  Always so many things to be done!