So I'm finally back home after a 3 week photography binge that took me from Yosemite to Lake Tahoe, to San Francisco and down PCH before heading to Page Arizona, after which I hopped on a plane with my kids to head back out to Loudoun County, Virginia to visit some good friends of ours who live just outside of DC. I think I have enough to be getting on with as I took over 5000 shots over the past three weeks and am now in the process of sifting through them.
The above shot was taken at the end of my first week after an 8 hour drive straight out to Page. I got an early start as I wanted to make it out to the Horseshoe Bend before sunset and made it through the long drive through the desert on a steady diet of 5 hour energy and the Eagles. (The quintessential music to be listening to when driving through the Mojave desert.) When I arrived at the Horseshoe, I struck up a conversation with Martin Spilikin , a photographer from Miami who was originally from Argentina. Martin decided to join me the next morning to shoot the Lower Antelope Canyon.
When we arrived at the gates the next morning, we found several people had the same idea of getting there early to avoid making the trip into the canyon in the 112 degree heat. After asking around, we found that we could pay a $36 flat fee and take our tripods down. There would be no guide, but we could stay for two hours. It turned out that we didn't need the guide as new groups would parade through our shots at 20 minute intervals, and we were able to hear the descriptions of the various aspects of the canyon. We bracketed everything and had to keep adjusting our white balance and exposure compensation as we made our way through the canyon. We both grimaced as we thought about how many shots were being missed as the guides constantly kept telling their groups to avoid shooting the sky as it would completely ruin their photos.
The clouds in the sky in the above shot hung around all morning, and by the time I checked out of my motel, I knew there would be a decent sunset at the Horseshoe. I decided to stick it out until after sunset, and spent the afternoon avoiding the extreme desert heat by sitting through TWO showings of "Man Of Steel" which was the only movie showing in the town theater. After shooting the sunset, I set off for St. George, Utah and got a few hours of sleep before heading out at 4:30 AM in order to avoid the forecasted high of 117 in Vegas.
All in all, it was an exhausting but fun three weeks of shooting that involved unbelievably long hikes, some type of virus in Yosemite (Hanta?), mosquitoes, a broken tooth, heat stroke, and more than a few bumps and bruises, but I had a great time and can't wait to return to all of these spots again hopefully sooner than later.
But it sure is great to be back home. :)
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Tags: Lower Antelope Canyon Page AZ Sunburst Morning HDR Nikkor 14-24
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So I was all set to set off for home after shooting the Lower Antelope Canyon, but I kept looking at the sky as I left the motel, and finally decided it might be worth hanging around for the sunset. In the above shot, I kept waiting for the sun to burst out from those clouds but it never quite made it. The entire sunset was rather dull and gray, but just as blue hour was about to kick in, bits and pieces of the clouds along the horizon began to light. up.
I meant to post this shot a few days ago, but I've been fighting with the white balance. I failed to adjust for the blue hour as it began, and as a result, almost everything in the frame was either blue or purple. After about 17 versions and constant bouncing around between lightroom, CS5 and Nik Color Efex, I finally settled on the shot above as it was the closest to what I remember shooting while I was there. It certainly was worth hanging around for, but the four hour drive to St. George was murder, between the road construction, a dead cell phone and thunderstorms. I did, however, learn that a lightning bolt over your car coming out of a pitch black, moonless sky in the middle of the desert is MUCH more effective than 5 hour energy in terms of keeping you awake.
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Tags: Horsehoe Bend Page Arizona Lake Powell Sunset Blue Hour Nikon D4 Nikkor 14-24 2.8
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So one of the benefits of having groups stampede through my shot every 15 minutes was hearing the guides point out certain characteristics about the different formations that Martin and I were shooting. Usually it was only after the fact that I would look back and see the buffalo or eagle. In this case, I was all the way home and working on this shot before I found out that this formation is sometimes known as the Windy Lady. Depending on the angle, I think you can make out something that resembles a face, long flowing hair and and a neck. In either case, I thought it was the most amazing formation in the lower canyon, and shot it from just about every angle imaginable. You might see this shot reappear in the coming weeks as either an piece of chewing gum stuck on a shoe or a uvula. :)
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Tags: Lower Antelope Canyon Page Arizona Slot Canyon Windy Lady Nikkor 14-24 2.8 HDR Antelope Canyon
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So the original plan was for me to wake up at 4:15 AM in order to make it back over in time to catch some color around the Horseshoe Bend. Unfortunately, by the time I left my motel room at 4:30, the light was already getting pretty strong, and I knew it would probably be a lost cause. Sure enough, by the time I made it to the parking lot for Horseshoe, the sky completely lit up, and I knew that the color would be gone by the time I made it over to the rim. So I simply jumped out of the car and tried to get what color I could before it disappeared. This was handheld looking back towards Page, Arizona as I knew the show would probably be over by the time I got the tripod out of the car and set it up.
As for the title, it's just a nod to the Eagles who got me through the majority of the Mojave Desert. (The quintessential music to be listening to when driving an hour outside of Vegas in any direction.) I have to admit that I didn't have any tequila the night before this shot. I did, however, have heat stroke after failing to stay hydrated after the hike back to the car in the 105 degree heat at 9 PM, so I took a couple of Advil PM when I got back to the motel. Does that count?
It's another Advil PM sunrise, staring slowly cross the sky. Said goodbye....
Doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
William McIntosh Photography | 500px | Twitter
Tags: Page Arizona Desert Sunrise Nikkor 14-24 2.8 HDR
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The alternate title on this was "It Ain't Over Until the Fat Guy Runs Out Of Water" but the other one seemed to work better. This was taken on my first night in Page. I arrived early and took several test shots trying to figure out where I wanted to set up for the sunset. When I finally began shooting, however, I was very discouraged as I was looking at one of the most harsh, metallic, boring skies I had ever seen. No clouds to speak of, and blah, flat, lifeless, insipid light. I finally gave up and began to schlep my tripod and two camera bodies back to the car when I looked back and noticed the light beginning to stream through some unseen barriers beyond the horizon lighting up patches of haze in the upper atmosphere. As it was now very dark and late into the blue hour, I dropped the tripod, cranked up the ISO, and just began shooting brackets, hoping for the best. The sky that you see here only lasted for a few moments and then it was gone. If I had given up just 5 minutes earlier, I would have missed the whole thing. As I headed back up that long, hot trail back to the car, I reminded myself that it ain't over until it's over. Or at least until your water bottle is empty.
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Tags: Horseshoe Bend Colorado River Page Arizona Sunset Blue Hour Nikon 14-24 HDR
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