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Double Trouble Milky Way over Double Arch Arches National Park, Utah I had seen a number of nights capes below Double Arch in Arches National Park and knew I wanted to add it to my list of places to photograph. I flew into Grand Junction, CO in the morning and drove 2 hours to Moab. During the day I scouted Double Arch and had a number of ideas on where to shoot at night. I knew that night shooting was pretty much useless as the Milky Way was going to be blinded by the moon but I rented the 24mm f/1.4 lens anyways. Andy and I met up with Phill Monson and his brother-in-law Jeff to shoot Delicate Arch at sunset. We had some time to kill before sunrise at Mesa Arch so we decided to have a try at night photography over at Double Arch. I brought along a 2-million candlepower flashlight to do some light painting and Phill graciously volunteered to do the painting while I fired off the cameras. Even though the moon was out, the tail end of the Milky Way made its way over Double Arch. I wanted to include Phill in the photo to give this a sense of scale and backed up until I could compose the photo with Double Arch, Phill, and the Milky Way all in the shot. I realize this photo isn't anything special but I had fun shooting it anyways! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: 24mm, f/1.6, 15 sec, ISO 3200
Pink Mile SR 163, Mile 13 Monument Valley, Utah Last year I did two trips to the Southwest and found the landscape to be both breathtaking and jaw-dropping. There's just so much amazing scenery out in Utah and Arizona and I knew I had to go back. Andy and I found a cheap flight into Grand Junction, CO and made a quick 1.5 hour drive over to Moab. The first two days we visited all around Moab, Arches and Cayonlands National Parks. We witnessed sunset at Delicate Arch, light painted with the tail of the Milky Way at Double Arch, saw a beautiful sunrise at Mesa Arch and amazing grand views at Green River Viewpoint, did a short hike to Bow Tie Arch and Corona Arch (and saw people bungie jumping off Corona!), and lastly hunted down False Kiva for sunset. By the time we got back to the hotel on Saturday night we had decided we had seen enough and wanted to head to Monument Valley, which isn't close to anything convenient, but was only 2 hours from where we were. It took us a couple hours to make our way south towards the Arizona border but we eventually made our way into the Navajo Nation and the familiar scenes of Monument Valley came into view. I say familiar because I can remember seeing these mesas, buttes, and spires from the age of 6 when I first played the computer game "Oregon Trail" on an old Apple IIGS. After stopping at the iconic "Mile 13" we drove into Monument Valley, paid the $5/person entry fee, and then drove through the 17 mile dirt road in our little (crappy) rental car. After having a weekend of boring skies, cloud had finally rolled in and we debated where we wanted to photograph the sunset! I haven't had much luck shooting east for sunset and we decided to head back to Mile 13 since the view faced southwest. It was actually a lot of fun having to run into the road, setup the tripod real quick, snap a few shots, and then run out of the way as cars drove by from both in front and behind us. Looking down at my watch I noticed that the sun had set and we only had a touch of color in the sky above "Stagecoach", "Saddleback", and "King on his Throne" mesas. To our right, further west, I could see beautiful pinks. As we waited the color started moving closer and closer to the mesas. I started screaming "KEEP COMING, KEEP COMING. JUST A LITTLE FURTHER!" Sure enough 5 minutes later the sky lit up with amazing pinks, even providing a nice frame above the mesas. The color was so bright, in fact, that I had to tone down the saturation a bit to make this actually look believable! I also debated removing the cars from the road but ultimately felt it gave the scene more place and helped draw the eye in. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR: 112mm, f/11, ⅛ sec, ISO 100 No Filters
Rocky Lower Antelope Canyon's Dog Page, Arizona When I booked my trip to Southern Utah I never thought the following 2 things: that it would be snowing and that I'd return to Page, AZ. I had made a trip to Page a couple months earlier and taken care of Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend and gotten great photos already -- no need to return so soon. Unfortunately the blizzard that blew into Bryce National Park caused most of the park to close. Since we planned to hike The Wave the following day we had 2 options: stay in Kanab, UT or stay in Page, AZ. It was only 10:30am when we left Bryce and there's nothing to photograph near Kanab so we decided we'd head to Page, pick up a permit for The Wave, and hit up Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe Bend. When we arrived at Lower Antelope Canyon I asked if there was a self-guided tour we could do by ourselves, since I already knew the place and didn't need a guide. The woman told us no, we'd have to go in with a guide and that we'd be the only ones on the 1.5 hour tour. I told her we had to go get our cameras and we could set out. When we got back and the guide realized we had tripods and fancy cameras he told us that we could venture in the Canyons for 2 hours by ourselves as part of their "photo-tour." Perfect! We literally had the entire Lower Antelope Canyon to ourselves for 2 hours -- we only saw people as we rushed out 1 hour and 50 minutes later! My previous visit to Lower Antelope Canyon had been during the morning light. While I think that overall there was "better light" in the morning, the afternoon light was also spectaclar and slightly different. We only found good light in 2 or 3 places but in those places it was even more stunning than the morning light. Morning light brought mostly oranges and yellows but in the afternoon the purple colors came out! In one photo we could capture amazing purples, yellows AND oranges. Stunning! I came to this spot towards the end of the canyon. The light was hitting the canyon walls beautifully and I noticed that the shape of this rock looked kinda like a dog or a wolf's face. You can make out the nose, eyes, and mouth in the rock in the center. I call this dog "Rocky": Antelope Canyon's spiritual guard dog! He played quite nice with us while we were exploring :) Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 70mm, f/10, 1/5 sec, ISO 200, Tripod NO HDR -- minor curves, dodge/burning only.
Wavy Mirror The Wave Coyote Buttes, Arizona My buddy and I decided to take a mini photo-vacation to Southern Utah/Northern Arizona with 2 goals in mind: shoot The Wave (Coyote Buttes) and The Subway (Zion). After flying into St. George Municipal Airport (SGU) and getting permits to hike The Wave we were all set! We got up early on Sunday, drove our 4x4 jeep into Vermillion Cliffs State Park, had a really fun time driving through the sand (and made sure not to get stuck!), parked and then trekked to find The Wave. Like The Subway, there's no actual trail to The Wave. We both downloaded Topographical Map apps to our phones, pre-loaded the maps on, entered waypoints the night before, and used our natural sense of direction and occasional checks on the GPS to make sure we were in the right direction. The entire way to The Wave we were pretty much hiking through the dessert, making our own path, moving between shrubs, avoiding cactus plants and filling our shoes with sand. Once we made it to The Wave we had the entire place to ourselves. When we first arrived I heard some japanese tourists as they left -- we didn't see/hear another soul the entire day. The Wave is a lot smaller than I had thought. I had imagined it was this giant open space that extended for quite a distance; instead it's a pretty small little cove of really awesome shaped rock. We spent a while exploring the little in's and out's of The Wave while snapping photos. Unfortunately for us it was a cloudy day (and eventually started snowing! In the middle of the dessert!) and we couldn't take any of the typical Wave shots with the big waves and nice blue sky (and perhaps some clouds). Instead we had to keep our compositions to the rock only. I thought this photo was neat because it shows some great lines and also shows some perspective of the place. There's also a neat illusion in this photo -- it's show so wide that my buddy is distorted and the area furthest from the camera appears much smaller than it actually was. I also liked this because it seemed to have almost a mirror effect to it! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.G ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/11, 1/80 sec, ISO 400, Handheld No HDR -- almost straight out of the camera (some curves, noise reduction, etc)
Lady in the Wind Lower Antelope Canyon Page, Arizona Can you see the Lady in the Wind, with her hair blowing back over the rocks? Before I discuss this photo I wanted to mention what I mean by "artograph". I personally believe, and many of you may disagree, that photography is a form of art and that each photographer can take his own artistic path in each of the photos he produces. I do not believe that photography must be realism. After all, our camera sensor doesn't have nearly the dynamic range of our eye and who can say if what our eye see's is reality? Our camera attempts to capture things as it see's, but it too makes decisions on what the scene is: it selects it's own white balance, contrast/saturation levels, etc. We then tweak those in post-processing to do whatever we want to do with a photo. Ok, now I'm rambling. Back to the point.... when I took these photos in Antelope Canyon I noticed that the white balance played an important role on the color in the photo. While playing with the White Balance on this photo I noticed that depending on what temperature I used I could either get purples, yellows, or oranges. The reason I call this an "artograph" instead of a "photograph" is because I exported this photo into Photoshop 3 times: each with different white balances, once to get purples, once to get yellows, and once to get oranges, and then blended them as I saw fit. Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 25mm, f/8, 1/4 sec, ISO 200, Feisol Tripod
Sand Falls Upper Antelope Canyon Page, Arizona I've seen many photos of Antelope Canyon and some of my friends include the "sand falls" in which sand is captured falling down off the rocks in slow motion to make it looks like a waterfall. I asked our guide if there were any of these while we were there and the last 2 spots we stopped were for sand-falls! Note that this is not a natural occurrence: our guide had to pick up sand and pour it on the rocks and the run out of the way for our photos. None-the-less, it creates a pretty impressive scene! Yes, there are tons of Antelope Canyon photos out here, but one more from me isn't going to hurt, right?! This shot is part of my Arizona Photovacation Series. On our trip we stopped at Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon (Upper/Lower), the Grand Canyon, and Sedona. Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 22mm, f/11, 4 seconds, ISO 200, Feisol Tripod
I just got back from a photovacation around Arizona: specifically Page (Antelope Canyon), the Grand Canyon, and Sedona. Our first stop was in Page where we visited Antelope Canyon. We paid for a photo tour with "Carol Bigfoot Adventures" -- which was well worth the $84 we spent! Her photo-tourguides have the ability to stop people from coming into the cavern and we were able to capture some gorgeous shots without the massive crowds (note that despite my photos having no people, there were probably 300 people in the Canyon. Antelope Canyon is known for it's gorgeous red rocks. Our first stop was Lower Antelope Canyon with its abstractly shaped walls. The second stop was here, in Upper Antelope Canyon which is known for the light rays the enter. Although Upper Antelope Canyon is completely over-photographed I just had to throw a photo or two of it up on Flickr anyways. I really liked this photo because the reflection of the dirt in the light-ray looks like a naked lady (you can make out her hair, breasts, torso, and legs in the light ray). I rented a Nikon D700 for this trip and it performed absolutely stunningly! I already own the Nikon 17-35mm lens and when I threw it on the D700 I was able to go super-wide and get some great photos like this! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 19mm, f/11, 1/5 sec, ISO 200, Feisol Tripod
Guide Me Cathedral Rock Sedona, Arizona My last stop on our photo vacation was Sedona, AZ home of the red-rocks. We knew that Cathedral Rock was completely over-photographed as well but you know what, everyone's gotta have these photos in their portfolio so we figured we'd head on over to Cathedral Rock and try to catch it glowing at sunset. When we arrived we walked all over the river bank trying to find a good spot. We had noticed a spot a little further upstream (to the left in this photo) that had great reflections of Cathedral Rock but we decided it was too over-photographed and went to this spot (note: eventually we did move back to the reflection spot and spent most of our time there, however, I preferred this photo once we were done shooting). I liked this location because the rocks made an "S" curve in the water and eventually leads the eye into Cathedral Rock. A couple of guys and their dog were hanging out in the river keeping cool and I had to wait a *longggggg* time before they got out of my shot. I didn't mind the dog hanging around in the shot -- it almost looks like a lion in the photo! Right before the trip I added the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens to my collection of gear and this was one of the first chances I had to put it to good use! The 17-35mm was on my rent D700 and was just too wide for Cathedral Rock. I have a feeling i'm going to love this lens! This shot is part of my Arizona Photovacation Series. On our trip we stopped at Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon (Upper/Lower), the Grand Canyon, and Sedona. Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S 38mm, f/18, 13 seconds, ISO 125, Feisol Tripod B+W 3-stop grad & Lee Filter Holder w/HiTech 3-stop ND, 3-stop ND Grad, and 2-stop ND Grad Note: I didn't want to drop to ISO 125 (I wanted to keep it at native ISO 200) and I didn't want to go smaller aperture than f/13 but I wanted a long exposure for the water and that was the only way. I needed something like the 10-stop "big stopper" to have the settings how I wanted. There was just too much light even though I was adding in a roughly 11 stops of filters!
Antelope's Heart Upper Antelope Canyon Page, Arizona Here is another photo from Upper Antelope Canyon. Page, Arizona was the first stop in our photo vacation. After shooting gorgeous light the previous night at Horseshoe Bend we came into Antelope Canyon at just the perfect time (about 10:30am) when the light was absolutely stunning. I know that Antelope Canyon is completely over-photographed but we had to capture our own images anyways. In this photo the combination of light and rocks creates a heart. I can see why so many people fall in love with Antelope Canyon, and that's part of the reason why it's so dang busy. Trying to get time to setup the tripod, compose the photo, take the picture, and make sure it came out right is darn near impossible. Thanks to "Carol Bigfoot Adventures" for the wonderful photo-tour that we had. We spent 3 hours in the canyon (was only supposed to be 2 hours). I'll prob. post a couple more Antelope Canyon photos before y'all get bored of em! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 30mm, f/11, 0.6 sec, ISO 200, Feisol Tripod
Rocky
Lower Antelope Canyon's Dog
Page, Arizona

When I booked my trip to Southern Utah I never thought the following 2 things: that it would be snowing and that I'd return to Page, AZ. I had made a trip to Page a couple months earlier and taken care of Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend and gotten great photos already -- no need to return so soon. Unfortunately the blizzard that blew into Bryce National Park caused most of the park to close. Since we planned to hike The Wave the following day we had 2 options: stay in Kanab, UT or stay in Page, AZ. It was only 10:30am when we left Bryce and there's nothing to photograph near Kanab so we decided we'd head to Page, pick up a permit for The Wave, and hit up Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe Bend.

When we arrived at Lower Antelope Canyon I asked if there was a self-guided tour we could do by ourselves, since I already knew the place and didn't need a guide. The woman told us no, we'd have to go in with a guide and that we'd be the only ones on the 1.5 hour tour. I told her we had to go get our cameras and we could set out. When we got back and the guide realized we had tripods and fancy cameras he told us that we could venture in the Canyons for 2 hours by ourselves as part of their "photo-tour." Perfect! We literally had the entire Lower Antelope Canyon to ourselves for 2 hours -- we only saw people as we rushed out 1 hour and 50 minutes later!

My previous visit to Lower Antelope Canyon had been during the morning light. While I think that overall there was "better light" in the morning, the afternoon light was also spectaclar and slightly different. We only found good light in 2 or 3 places but in those places it was even more stunning than the morning light. Morning light brought mostly oranges and yellows but in the afternoon the purple colors came out! In one photo we could capture amazing purples, yellows AND oranges. Stunning!

I came to this spot towards the end of the canyon. The light was hitting the canyon walls beautifully and I noticed that the shape of this rock looked kinda like a dog or a wolf's face. You can make out the nose, eyes, and mouth in the rock in the center. I call this dog "Rocky": Antelope Canyon's spiritual guard dog! He played quite nice with us while we were exploring :)

Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
70mm, f/10, 1/5 sec, ISO 200, Tripod
NO HDR -- minor curves, dodge/burning only.
Rocky Lower Antelope Canyon's Dog Page, Arizona When I booked my trip to Southern Utah I never thought the following 2 things: that it would be snowing and that I'd return to Page, AZ. I had made a trip to Page a couple months earlier and taken care of Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend and gotten great photos already -- no need to return so soon. Unfortunately the blizzard that blew into Bryce National Park caused most of the park to close. Since we planned to hike The Wave the following day we had 2 options: stay in Kanab, UT or stay in Page, AZ. It was only 10:30am when we left Bryce and there's nothing to photograph near Kanab so we decided we'd head to Page, pick up a permit for The Wave, and hit up Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe Bend. When we arrived at Lower Antelope Canyon I asked if there was a self-guided tour we could do by ourselves, since I already knew the place and didn't need a guide. The woman told us no, we'd have to go in with a guide and that we'd be the only ones on the 1.5 hour tour. I told her we had to go get our cameras and we could set out. When we got back and the guide realized we had tripods and fancy cameras he told us that we could venture in the Canyons for 2 hours by ourselves as part of their "photo-tour." Perfect! We literally had the entire Lower Antelope Canyon to ourselves for 2 hours -- we only saw people as we rushed out 1 hour and 50 minutes later! My previous visit to Lower Antelope Canyon had been during the morning light. While I think that overall there was "better light" in the morning, the afternoon light was also spectaclar and slightly different. We only found good light in 2 or 3 places but in those places it was even more stunning than the morning light. Morning light brought mostly oranges and yellows but in the afternoon the purple colors came out! In one photo we could capture amazing purples, yellows AND oranges. Stunning! I came to this spot towards the end of the canyon. The light was hitting the canyon walls beautifully and I noticed that the shape of this rock looked kinda like a dog or a wolf's face. You can make out the nose, eyes, and mouth in the rock in the center. I call this dog "Rocky": Antelope Canyon's spiritual guard dog! He played quite nice with us while we were exploring :) Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 70mm, f/10, 1/5 sec, ISO 200, Tripod NO HDR -- minor curves, dodge/burning only." href="javascript:openLB(1585497242,'',XLarge,'',1024,682);">Rocky Lower Antelope Canyon's Dog Page, Arizona When I booked my trip to Southern Utah I never thought the following 2 things: that it would be snowing and that I'd return to Page, AZ. I had made a trip to Page a couple months earlier and taken care of Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend and gotten great photos already -- no need to return so soon. Unfortunately the blizzard that blew into Bryce National Park caused most of the park to close. Since we planned to hike The Wave the following day we had 2 options: stay in Kanab, UT or stay in Page, AZ. It was only 10:30am when we left Bryce and there's nothing to photograph near Kanab so we decided we'd head to Page, pick up a permit for The Wave, and hit up Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe Bend. When we arrived at Lower Antelope Canyon I asked if there was a self-guided tour we could do by ourselves, since I already knew the place and didn't need a guide. The woman told us no, we'd have to go in with a guide and that we'd be the only ones on the 1.5 hour tour. I told her we had to go get our cameras and we could set out. When we got back and the guide realized we had tripods and fancy cameras he told us that we could venture in the Canyons for 2 hours by ourselves as part of their "photo-tour." Perfect! We literally had the entire Lower Antelope Canyon to ourselves for 2 hours -- we only saw people as we rushed out 1 hour and 50 minutes later! My previous visit to Lower Antelope Canyon had been during the morning light. While I think that overall there was "better light" in the morning, the afternoon light was also spectaclar and slightly different. We only found good light in 2 or 3 places but in those places it was even more stunning than the morning light. Morning light brought mostly oranges and yellows but in the afternoon the purple colors came out! In one photo we could capture amazing purples, yellows AND oranges. Stunning! I came to this spot towards the end of the canyon. The light was hitting the canyon walls beautifully and I noticed that the shape of this rock looked kinda like a dog or a wolf's face. You can make out the nose, eyes, and mouth in the rock in the center. I call this dog "Rocky": Antelope Canyon's spiritual guard dog! He played quite nice with us while we were exploring :) Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 70mm, f/10, 1/5 sec, ISO 200, Tripod NO HDR -- minor curves, dodge/burning only.
Rocky
Lower Antelope Canyon's Dog
Page, Arizona

When I booked my trip to Southern Utah I never thought the following 2 things: that it would be snowing and that I'd return to Page, AZ. I had made a trip to Page a couple months earlier and taken care of Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend and gotten great photos already -- no need to return so soon. Unfortunately the blizzard that blew into Bryce National Park caused most of the park to close. Since we planned to hike The Wave the following day we had 2 options: stay in Kanab, UT or stay in Page, AZ. It was only 10:30am when we left Bryce and there's nothing to photograph near Kanab so we decided we'd head to Page, pick up a permit for The Wave, and hit up Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe Bend.

When we arrived at Lower Antelope Canyon I asked if there was a self-guided tour we could do by ourselves, since I already knew the place and didn't need a guide. The woman told us no, we'd have to go in with a guide and that we'd be the only ones on the 1.5 hour tour. I told her we had to go get our cameras and we could set out. When we got back and the guide realized we had tripods and fancy cameras he told us that we could venture in the Canyons for 2 hours by ourselves as part of their "photo-tour." Perfect! We literally had the entire Lower Antelope Canyon to ourselves for 2 hours -- we only saw people as we rushed out 1 hour and 50 minutes later!

My previous visit to Lower Antelope Canyon had been during the morning light. While I think that overall there was "better light" in the morning, the afternoon light was also spectaclar and slightly different. We only found good light in 2 or 3 places but in those places it was even more stunning than the morning light. Morning light brought mostly oranges and yellows but in the afternoon the purple colors came out! In one photo we could capture amazing purples, yellows AND oranges. Stunning!

I came to this spot towards the end of the canyon. The light was hitting the canyon walls beautifully and I noticed that the shape of this rock looked kinda like a dog or a wolf's face. You can make out the nose, eyes, and mouth in the rock in the center. I call this dog "Rocky": Antelope Canyon's spiritual guard dog! He played quite nice with us while we were exploring :)

Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S:
70mm, f/10, 1/5 sec, ISO 200, Tripod
NO HDR -- minor curves, dodge/burning only.
See photo in original gallery.
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