The Canyons! Mystically Beautiful.

Our summer trip all over the US was fun...but sadly too short. We hit a lot of spots but only for a day or in some cases only for hours... The Grand Canyon was one of our shortest stops...3 hrs.

Having 3 hours mostly spent trekking and rock climbing there wasn't much of photo taking time left. I have literally spent hours climbing rocks since I tried avoiding areas with a lot of tourist(viewing decks and the skywalk). I went to spots that might have been a little too scary for some...hoping to take some photographs that will be a little bit more unique. The Grand Canyon is one of the most photographed landscape in the world and for me I have to create images that will incorporate my creativity in.

I ended up with about 80 images and ended up with 55 photographs that you can view in my Flickr display. Going back to this photograph I separated the sky and edited it to bring out the washed out details and combined it with the original foreground/subject to create a "HDR" photograph. Nothing too sophisticated since I hate being in the computer for hours(that's why I went back shooting film lately...or print my digital photos as-is), I love this photo no matter what others might say. The visit was worth it even though 3 hrs is not nearly enough to plan any real creative shots with hours dedicated on climbing rocks to get a good perspective. Limited time is certainly a poor excuse people might say but I did the best I can to capture the beauty of this famous landscape. If only I get to take weeks at a time and camp out there to capture "the perfect light" then maybe I can certainly do so much more.

If only I can spend at least 2 weeks in the Grand Canyon and actually be there for a photographic visit... and maybe it would have helped if it was in the original plan too. . Climbing rocks with my Nikon F5 and 2 Olympus E330's on my neck with my gear bag with my lenses...it was too heavy, cumbersome and way too scary. I could have climbed rocks with my Nikon FE and maybe have my digital equipment limited to my Olympus C-series. The right equipment does help to create gorgeous images but having the right gear for a task do help...and climbing rocks with 10lbs of equipment is really horrible. It would have fine if I have assistants to lug around my cameras... if only eh!

On my next visit to The Grand Canyons I will be with my Panasonic LX3 and my Nikon FE with 28mm lens. Fingers crossed it will be soon!