View from the North Rim with Two Fires in the Background |
What a pleasure it was to join the Arizona Highways Photo Workshops along with
photographer/instructor Suzanne Mathia and
tour leaders Ken Brown and Rick Jacobi to the North Rim of the Grand
Canyon.
Two Young Navajo Dancers at the Lodge |
We stayed at the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North
Rim, a very out of the way place. If you
want crowds and the canyon, go to the South Rim. If you want peace and quiet, come to the North
Rim.
Sunrise View of the Grand Canyon |
Moonrise over the Grand Canyon |
We had a number of goals on this
trip. Take sunrise photos, sunset
photos, photos of the moon rising, and edit in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. That’s the official title; most of us know it
as Lightroom. As a college professor, I
wanted the experience of watching a day-to-day pro like Suzanne and listening
to her teach Lightroom. It was a good
refresher of what I knew and gave me some different ways to teach the
subject.
I photographed with my Canon 5D Mark
III, the Canon 24-105mm lens, a Tamron 2X extender, and a Manfrotto 190 tripod,
essential for low light photography that gives the best chance at sharp photos
with low (100, usually) ISO.
Navajo Bridge, on the way to the North Rim |
On the way to the North Rim, which
takes about eight hours from Phoenix, I photographed Navajo Bridge.
Inside the Canyon |
We hit Bright Angel Point and Point
Imperial at the Canyon. To get the great
morning light, what photographers call the “golden hour,” I got up at 3:30am to
catch our van leaving at 4:30am. In some
of the shots, I caught the canyon during that pre-sunrise period called the
“blue hour” which is only a few minutes, actually. I did very little post processing to the blue
hour photo of the canyon.
Another View Inside the Canyon |
On the last night of photographing,
I was frustrated to find the moon hiding behind clouds. So, I walked back to the van and put my
equipment away. Then I turned to see the
huge moon peeking nicely out of the clouds.
Buffalo |
Just leaving the North Rim, we
stopped to see a herd of buffalo. They
can run fast, but mostly just want to eat.
They grunt and produce a lot of, shall I say, waste material.
Coming back near Navajo Bridge is
Lee’s Ferry. I’ve included a photo of
that entrance for boats on the Colorado River.
Until My Next Adventure,
See You On Down The Road!
See all of my photos
from this adventure on Flickr or by clicking the Zenfolio slideshow
below!