After our time in Page, Arizona, we decided to leave early in the morning and take the long out-of-the-way stretch into Utah.  We followed 89A past the Vermilion Cliffs and Marble Canyon.  The entire ride, including a few stops, took over six glorious hours.  Not a minute was wasted without being in awe of the scenery.

Bryce Canyon sunrise, shot with Canon 5D at 160 ISO, f/18, 1/4", exp. comp. -2/3, 80mm.

Not a boring ride whatsoever!  We noticed, however, that every hour the temperature would drop considerably.

Once we entered into Utah, we spent a short time at the Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park where the sun was hitting the sand in a way to make it glow gold.  The dunes, however, were pock-marked with footsteps and tire trails.  On the dunes were a number of hikers and dune buggy enthusiasts.  While I imagined taking photographs of crisp, clean, smooth dunes, I had to change my plans.  I decided to incorporate them into my shots.  While this spot has been visited by many photographers, I was now provided with an opportunity to create truly unique images!  I used some of the tire marks as part of the composition while removing the unsightly ones with Photoshop.

While it was over 80 degrees in Arizona, it was quite chilly around the dunes of Utah, so we did not stay for long.  After all, the warmest clothing I had was a long sleeve shirt and a Lands End rain jacket.  It was May in the southwest and we did not expect the need to have anything warmer.

Suggestion: Watch this slideshow in Full Screen mode by clicking the button on the bottom right.

By the time we reached Bryce Canyon, it was darn cold.  We checked in at the main lodge and was told that it was going to drop to 23 degrees that night!  I immediately went to the gift shop and purchased the heaviest clothing I could find.  There were no jackets for sale, so I settled for a very heavy, Bryce logo-infested sweatshirt.  While we ate dinner in the main lodge, it began to snow!

We had a very cute cabin in the park, with a pretty good heating system and a gas fireplace.  We were advised to take an early shower  so that the adjacent cabin would not use up all of the hot water.  The best thing about the cabin, however, was that it was only 50 yards off the rim.

At around 5am, I woke up to my alarm clock, turning it off quickly so as to not awake Donna (fat chance).  I had my clothes and camera equipment laid out the night before, so I quickly got ready and headed out the door.  The sun was scheduled to rise around 5:40am and I wanted to be ready for it.

As I exited the cabin, I walked into a winter wonderland.  There was at least 2 inches of snow on the ground.  Not difficult to walk through, but enough to blanket everything.  The dark pines were lit up like Christmas trees by the pockets of snow on their branches.  And it was May!

When I reached the rim, I was awestruck by the view.  In the darkness, the amphitheater of hoodoos glowed with snow.  I set my tripod up and waited.

It did not take long before the sun started to fight its way through the clouds.  The hoodoos looked like radiating creamsicles in freezer ice.  The sky was initially gray, but as soon as the sun won its battle with the clouds, the sky turned on fire.  Purples and yellows blazed through the sky between crisp and wispy clouds.

I started to cry.  No, not because of the beauty.  I swear!  It was mighty cold outside!  While the hooded sweatshirt kept my head and body warm, my hands and face were stinging from the cold.  The light wind did not help matters.  I had no gloves, so I shot with a remote inside my pocket.  I only took my hands out to recompose the photo or move the tripod, which was often.  My face, however, had no escape.  By the end of my two hour shooting spree, my nose and cheeks were numb and my eyes were glassy.  Yet I was euphoric!

Sunset at Horseshoe Bend, Page, Arizona

While I’ve mixed my old and new images, believing that the terrain is timeless, the vast majority of my new images are up front for your viewing pleasure.  I will be sharing my Utah and Nevada images in a future post.

We initially stayed in Tusayan, right outside the Grand Canyon National Park. With only a 10 minute drive to the south rim,

Slideshow: Southwest | Arizona Photography Gallery

we had access to one of the most amazing views in the world.  I knew that shooting the canyon would be a challenge.One of the most photographed locations in the world, it has become difficult to create a new, unique image.  With only three days, I would not have time to “wait for the light.”  Its vastness also makes it difficult to comprehend in my viewfinder.  My cousin David recently sent me an e-mail that I think says it well:

The Grand Canyon is perhaps the most seductive, and at the same time most elusive, object of photography in the world. One is forced to take dozens and dozens of pictures, from different angles, at different times of the day, from different ridges, trying desperately to capture something of its majestic, unfathomable beauty, but it is always useless. The pics never ever come out even close to doing the canyon justice, no offense to Jason. But, I don’t think anybody ever really has, not even the ones who take those glorious slides you can buy in the gift shops. There is a certain TEXTURE and scale and depth that just can’t be captured. If cameras could capture the emotions of the people taking the pictures as they view that magnificence, then the pictures might come closer.

I feel that David’s statement has some truth to it, but misses the photographic mark.  Thus, I responded:

I am inclined to agree with you that it is potentially impossible to capture the grandeur of the canyon. However, I believe that I, along with my fellow photogs, are humble enough to be satisfied with only capturing parts of it. The goal of a fine art photograph is not necessarily to capture all that is beautiful about the subject. We can only venture to do our own small parts. For instance, many portraitists may photograph the entire human body or a headshot, many others, such as Mapplethorpe, will find incredible beauty in a small curve, an interesting angle, even an elbow.

While you appear to lament the need to “take dozens and dozens of pictures, from different angles, at different times of the day, from different ridges,” in a desperate attempt to capture the canyon’s beauty, I believe to the contrary! The canyon is so giving and dynamic that it affords us the opportunity to continually take new and fresh images on a daily basis. I can sit here and photograph my calculator to death. Sure, some of them will be pretty unique from one another, but there is only so far I can go. The canyon provides us with exponentially more options and inspirations. There is no need to capture its entire essence. I am quite satisfied with photographing an inkling of its beauty.

We also spent a few days in Page, Arizona.  While the civilization of Page is nothing to write home about, its location is spectacular.  From its hillside, you stare right into Glen Canyon.  How majestic!  The town is also minutes from Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and Lake Powell.  The local food is also amazing!  I had quite possibly the greatest breakfast of my life at the Ranch House Grille.  Fresh eggs, tasty western hash browns, and a chicken fried steak to die for.  I needed some serious hiking to burn all of that off.  While I photographed the chicken fried steak for my personal collection, I have opted to share with you the incredible vast landscapes available in an around Page.

After a few days, we ventured along 89A to pass the Vermilion Cliffs and Marble Canyon before heading into Utah.  The entire drive took a little longer so we could stop and take photographs along the way.

I hope you enjoy the gallery.  When you finish looking at it, please come back here and provide your comments to this post!

On the way, we stopped suddenly after spotting a leopard lounging in a leaf-barren tree.  We photographed the beautiful cat as the sun set behind it.  We had little opportunity to see leopards, since they are nocturnal and night safaris are apparently not permitted in the state-run park.  So we sat there, engine idling, watching the leopard basking on a branch in the pink and blue colors of the sky.

Before we knew it, time had flown by.  We were in danger of not getting back to the camp on time.  Frank, our guide, put the Land Rover in gear and rolled forward.

During one of the game drives, there was a herd of elephants crossing the road. We of course had to stop. Not just to look at them, but because we feared they would run us down. They are fierce creatures! Donna was videotaping the elephants crossing the road.  She wanted to capture the animals to show her mother, who is such an elephant lover.

While I was photographing the family of elephants crossing the road, my vision was blocked. Thinking it is one of the crew members stepping in front of me, I lowered my lens. I realized quickly that a “baby” elephant was standing right next to our vehicle, less than a stone’s throw away, and had walked right into my view. It made eye contact with Donna, who then exclaimed “holy crap!” The elephant wiped its trunk on the bumper and I continued shooting.

Once the baby elephant lost interest in us, it wandered off after its family and into the sunset, which at this point had turned into a cosmic orange and purple.

When we arrived back at camp, we found a gooey present that the baby elephant left for us on the front of the car!

My business partner, Buzz, and I are widely known as the filmmakers of the Battle at Kruger, a battle over a baby calf between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and a crocodile. We shot the scene in September 2004 at a watering hole adjacent to Transport Dam in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

My wife Donna and I met Buzz and his wife Cheryl a few days earlier.  We were all staying at Pretoriuskop Camp in Mpumalanga and were all assigned Frank Watts as our safari guide.  Frank would pick us up at around 6am before the sunrise and drive us throughout the park for hours.  We would stop for lunch, take a few hours break, and then take another afternoon game drive.  To avoid being fined, Frank would have to drop us off at and depart our camp by 6pm.  This was our safari routine for a few days.

Most people don’t really see much action.  Like them, we were satisfied finding animals grazing or just moving around in their natural habitats.  I was equally enthralled by the savannah’s horticultural landscape.  I shot many rolls of film (this was a couple of years before I transitioned to digital) while Buzz frequently used his video camera, which Cheryl had been given as a corporate gift from her employer.

We shared Frank as a guide for a few days and would frequently go to Transport Dam to see what wildlife would congregate.  There seemed to be a crocodile or two living in the watering hole.  Otherwise, other animals like impala and elephants would come by for a drink.  No animal appeared to be in danger from one another and we were quite content watching the peace.

On Donna’s and my last day of safari, we all agreed to return to the watering hole to spend most of the afternoon and eventually watch the sunset.  When we arrived, we parked in an area between the watering hole and a herd of buffalo.  On the watering hole’s right shore was a ridge, where a few lions basked in the sun.  We watched them nap, roll over, stretch, and look otherwise non-threatening.

At one point, the elder female lion started walking down the ridge and along the shore towards us.  As we learned from Frank earlier in the week, we had very little to fear.  If we stayed seated, the animals would only perceive our Land Rover as one large rock.  We would only draw unwanted attention if we stood up or hung out the window.  Under no circumstances were we allowed to leave the vehicle, even if we did not see any animals around.

The female lion walked right up to and around our vehicle, eventually stopping in the grass in front of us for a rest.  She did not seem to mind the buffaloes grazing 20 yards behind us.

Some of the buffaloes started slowly walking away from us towards the left bank.  Instead of continuing into the distance, they started to circle the shore.  I raised an eyebrow, wondering what would happen if the buffaloes continued closer towards the lions.  The buffaloes moved quite slowly.  I noticed that our time was getting short, thinking that we may soon have to return to the camp for the 6pm curfew.  If we were going to see any action, I hoped it would happen soon.  It was our last hour of safari and I did not want it to end.

At one point, most of the herd slowed down even more.  A small handful of buffaloes continued.  Two adults and a baby buffalo led the walk, which got closer to the ridge where the lions rested.

The lions noticed.  Three of them turned around and faced the oncoming buffaloes.  They lied down and stretched to hide in what little tall golden grass surrounded them.  Something was going to happen.

The three buffaloes were getting closer, oblivious to the lions’ presence.  They were upwind so they could not smell the lions.  With their poor eyesight, they could not see the lions.  But then the largest buffalo stopped.  He looked up, noticed the great cats, and quickly turned around to run away.  The cats pounced.  The three on the ridge were joined by another that was hiding on the other side.  They were soon overtaken by the female lion that started her attack from near our vehicle.

As the chase curved around the watering hole’s edge, the lioness pounced on her easiest target, the baby buffalo too small and too slow to get away.  They both became airborne and rolled into the water with a mighty splash.  My jaw hit the ground.  I was intent on keeping quiet so as not to disturb the action.  Buzz, Cheryl, and a British woman in our vehicle kept exclaiming.  I was just worried about running out of film as I kept shooting what would eventually unfold.

The other lions jumped into the water.  One clamped its jaws down on the baby buffalo’s snout, trying to suffocate it.  Others chewed and tugged, trying to bring the bovine out of the water.

A small splash occurred a few feet away.  Moments later, a crocodile revealed itself and snapped at one of the lion’s feet.  It then came up again, turned its head, and took a sideways bite out of the buffalo’s hind leg, trying to drag it into the water.  An epic tug-of-war ensued between the lions pulling the buffalo uphill onto the shore and the opportunistic crocodile trying to bring it into the watery depths.

Ultimately, the lions won.  Once the crocodile was dragged onto the shore, he realized that he was exposed to danger, so he quickly released the buffalo and disappeared into the water.

At that point, we felt certain that the baby buffalo was near its end.  After being stretched in half and bitten by some of nature’s fiercest animals, we were surprised to see that it was still alive.  A modicum of hope began to rise in us when we saw a black mob of beasts coming from the left corners of our eyes.  A cavalry of buffalo had returned to save the baby!

Snorting and huffing, the herd surrounded the lions, which soon became trapped with the watering hole at their backs.  They buffalos edged closer as the lions stubbornly held onto their prey.  All animals showed some level of fear and courage at the same time.  Seated in my vehicle, looking through the lens of my camera, my own adrenaline started to pump.

After a few seconds, a lion was easily chased off by a single large buffalo.  Then, out of nowhere, what appeared to be that same buffalo circled around the side and attacked.  With a large horn, he scooped a lion up and threw it into the air.  When the lion landed, it immediately jettisoned out of there along the bank.  It was chased by a handful of buffaloes until it was safely out of the way.  Another lion scurried in the other direction.

Gaining more courage, the circle of buffaloes began to close in on the three remaining lions.  A large buffalo then stepped forward to be nose-to-nose with the cats.  The baby buffalo then miraculously rose off its feet, despite a lion grasping at its hindquarters.  Whether by accident or design, the large and baby buffaloes engaged in a small head butt.  The baby bounced back a bit and then freely walked back into the herd, disappearing from our sight.

The lions snarled, upset that they lost their meal and fearful since they were still surrounded, and were then chased away one by one.

This event was certainly by far the most amazing thing I have ever seen.  It happened on our last hour of safari.  The action only took 8 minute and 24 seconds to unfold.

Sunset over the Arno River, Florence, Italy: Canon 5D, f/7.1, 1/10, ISO 200, 220.0mm

Add Interest

This image of a sunset over Florence, Italy was shot from Florence, Italy’s Piazzale Michelangelo on the southern bank of the Arno River. In addition to the glowing orange sky over the Tuscan hillls, it also includes a diagonal river with repetitive bridges and red roof-topped buildings. Not only do these elements add compositional interest, but the sunset bounces off them in a variety of matching, yet varying, hues.

In contrast, check out below a sunrise over the Caribbean Sea right off the shores of Belize’s Ambergris Caye. While the colors may be dramatic, and the clouds may add some interesting texture, the image has no interesting subject other than the sun. Beyond the colors, there is little unique about this photograph. Sun. Sky. Clouds. Whatever.

Sunrise over the Caribbean Sea, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize: Canon Elan 7, Fuji Velvia 50

Manage the Light

With sunrises and sunsets, the sky may be dramatically bright, but the ground may be smothered in shadows, causing an uneven exposure throughout the composition. First, as noted in my last post, use a graduated neutral density filter to create exposure parity. Close the aperture to get as much as possible into focus with a large depth of field. Also, since the sun will only add extreme contrast, showing up as one big blown out highlight over a very dark ground, keep it out of the picture.

To account for the relative darkness of everything below the horizon, use a slower shutter speed to allow more light in. Not too slow, since you don’t want to bleach out the sky either.

A slow shutter speed, however, increases the chance for blurriness. So, to keep everything sharp, keep your camera very still. Do what you can to steady the shot.

I highly recommend using a tripod. If one is not handy, lean the camera against a sturdy object like a wall or a tree. Keep your elbows in and camera close to your body, take a deep breath, hold it, and squeeze (not press) the trigger.

Kick it up a notch by using a wired or wireless remote control trigger so you don’t have to actually touch the camera. Go over the top by using a mirror lock-up, which prevents shaking to the camera itself during “the click.”

And if you are using a tripod, maybe even do some bracketing so you can have the opportunity to use high dynamic range (HDR) software in post-processing.

In any event, you should be taking lots of shots anyway. The scene will change every few seconds. Reds will turns to oranges. Blues will turn to purples. Take as many as possible, because while it may feel like a long time before sunset starts, when it hits the horizon it will drop like a rock.

Sawyer Glacier: f/8, 1/320, ISO 160, exp. comp. -2/3.

Getting the correct exposure is always a challenge when taking landscape photographs. Sometimes the ground may be properly exposed, but the sky is blown out.  Sometimes the sky is the right hue and the clouds pop sharply, but the land is lost in murky, undefined shadows.  As technologically advanced as we think our camera technologies are, they still can’t simultaneously expose separate parts of the same scene like the human eye can. With the camera, you have to expose one or the other. A choice must be made.

There are a number of ways to compensate for this technological limitation. In the accompanying photograph of Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm Fjord of Alaska’s Inside Passage, I used a graduated neutral density filter, which helps limit the amount of light in the brightest half of the frame. I also shot in RAW format so I could more easily tinker with tonality with software in post-processing.

If I had been able to stay very still, I would have considered bracketing my images. In computer post-processing, I could have merged the images with high dynamic range (HDR) software to get a final image with correct exposure all around.  However, since I was on a moving boat these options were not feasible. I’ll be sure to discuss them further in a future post.

Graduated Neutral Density Filter

I think photographers claim that circular polarizer filters are their number 1 go-to items to top a lens. I bet that graduated neutral density filters come in a close second. While half of the filter is clear, the other half is a neutral transparent gray that blocks some light from entering the lens. The clear and gray sides of the filter gradually meet in the middle.

As I previously mentioned, landscape images tend to have varying exposure areas. Usually, these areas are split by the horizon line. With a graduated neutral density (ND) filter, the gray half will darken the lit side of the horizon, bringing it closer to the exposure in the other half of the composition. The stronger the contrast between light and shadow, the stronger the ND filter you should use. The added benefit of an ND filter is that the dark side also acts as a polarizer, which can help reduce glare and make your skies bluer and your clouds pop.

While there are some circular graduated ND filters that you can simply screw onto the lens, I prefer using a rectangular filter. With circular filters, your composition will always be stuck with the horizon in the middle, where the dark and clear portions of the filter meet. With a rectangular filter, you attach a filter holder to the lens and then slide the rectangular filter into the holder. You can move the filter up and down as needed to match where you want the horizon in the image. This provides more flexibility when you want to compose your image with the horizon in a place other than in the middle.

When photographing vast landscapes, the general rule is to shoot with your aperture at f/8 or smaller to keep everything in focus. Since I was on a moving boat when shooting this image of Sawyer Glacier, however, I couldn’t shrink the aperture too much. Together with a neutral density filter, I would lose too much light, causing my shutter speed to slow down. When moving, or shooting a moving object, a slow shutter speed may contribute to blurriness.

One way to compensate for this loss of light is to also increase your ISO. However, raise it as little as you need. Raising your ISO too high would risk causing digital noise in the shadows and a loss of color sharpness. Thus, I engaged in trial-and-error, trying to maximize my f-stop and shutter speed while keeping a low ISO.

RAW Format

Get a bigger hard drive. You may need it if you’re going to shoot RAW format images. While JPEGs are good for showing works on websites and elsewhere, I prefer shooting in RAW.

While JPEGs compression format may save space on your hard disk, its files lose data each time it is opened and closed, especially if using “Save As…” You do not lose data with RAW. With all this extra data and no compression, RAW files tend to be larger than your average JPEG. Hence the need for a bigger hard drive.

RAW files are bigger because they contain much more data and are uncompressed. JPEGs capture one layer of light. RAW captures details in highlights and shadows that JPEGs would ordinarily miss. With RAW, you can also change your white balance in post-processing!

When you import your RAW images onto your computer, you will need a RAW processing program. Adobe Photoshop has a Camera Raw Plugin. However, I have always found Photoshop to be better for illustrators. It’s a bit too cumbersome for photographers. Recognizing this, Adobe created Lightroom, which rearranges all of Photoshop’s photographers tools into a more manageable space. Photoshop’s less expensive baby brother also performs non-destructive edits, thus eliminating the need for layers. I hear that Aperture is also a very good similar program, primarily used by Mac users.

When you view your RAW images on your computer for the first time, do not be surprised to find that they look quite colorless and flat. This is expected. You then need to use the RAW processing program to draw out your vision. While it may be daunting at first, you will soon find that processing RAW images becomes amazingly easy over time and will provide you with tremendous control over the exposure, tonality, color, and sharpness of your images. When used effectively, especially with the incredible batch processing options, you can save hours, if not days, of processing time.

Composition

You also want to provide some compositional interest to the image. Don’t forget to draw your audience’s eyes in with some foreground and background elements. Perhaps some mid-ground elements for good measure.

Sawyer Glacier: f/18, 1/20, ISO 160, exp. comp. -2/3

In the first image above, the foreground elements is merely a reflection of the background element. The fjords jutting into the frame provide an interesting mid-ground element, that also adds curves, making the water look more like a road winding into the distance. In this second image to the left, a small island replaces the reflection as the foreground element, providing a very different perspective and adding a sense of scale.

Quite often, photographers use wide angle lenses to capture the vastness of the scene. During this shoot, I kept flipping between my wide angle and telephoto lenses to get a variety of shots. In both of these images, I used a telephoto lens, zooming in at 170mm, which had the result of making the island and glacier look much closer to together than they really are. There’s more than one way to shoot a vista.