Good evening all! Ok, so I’ve been at the Grand Canyon for 4 days now. Why so long? Mostly because I was taking advantage of the fact that I had a guaranteed camping spot that was comfortable and relaxing so I could relax and get over my traditional post-Vegas cold. Bleh. It’s mostly gone now. I feel much better.

And the other reasons for being here so long is because I had yet to be inspired by this place. “What? How is that possible?” you say? Perhaps this is both the gift and the curse of the artist… but it seemed like everywhere I looked I saw a photo someone else had already taken. I feel like I’ve seen this place before a million times. It was very frustrating because I feel like I should have been awed and humbled by the majesty and beauty of the cliffs and colors and layers and complexity of it all. Was there something wrong with me? Shouldn’t everyone be awed by such a magnificent and “Grand” place? Maybe I was comparing it to my beloved Yosemite, where everywhere you look something different is there and there are a million views and so many photos that have yet to be taken… Either way, I was artistically frustrated. I had shutter-block. (You know, like writers-block.)

So I left my camera in the car, hadn’t even bothered taking pictures for the first couple days. Today I decided to drive a little further. Venture down the road. Get away from the crowds a little. I stopped at a few of the little view points. It was starting to get a little better. And then I stopped at this one place, again, leaving my camera in the car. I went to the look out that everyone was at. Ok. Seen it. Moving on. So I notice there’s some beaten snow, like there’s a path there. Hmm… wonder where that goes. Hey, this is starting to look interesting! A little further, a little further… and then I break through the trees and break through the shutter-block! I have found my place for sunrise tomorrow! I didn’t have my camera with me, but I think if I did, I probably wouldn’t have ventured down there.

Sometimes I think people get so caught up in capturing the moment that they forget to look around and enjoy themselves. I make it a point not to bring my camera out with me all of the time. Or to keep it in my bag for a little while. I find it fascinating to observe people observing the world through a two inch LCD screen on the back of some gadget. Are they really seeing the world? What are they going to do with that video when they get home? Is it going to sit in a drawer? And then 10 years later they will look at it, will they wonder what they missed? Can life really be experienced through a LCD screen? I don’t think so. I don’t think so at all.

Anyway, I got off on a tangent. So I tromped through the snow and over some boulders and I found this amazing vista. I felt renewed. I felt like I could start taking photos again. That there was, perhaps, art left to be made in this place that is so popularly visited. Yay!

Moving on down the road a little, I found a place where I could actually view the sunset (so far it had always been behind my back). So I wandered all around the point, again, without camera, and enjoyed the views of the Colorado River, peaks, cliffs, etc. And then I picked my spot for sunset, grabbed my gear and jacket and thermos of tea and hunkered down. Ok, photos of the clouds, sunset colors, canyon, etc. Nothing too thrilling. So I decided to listen to what one of my mentors said… when you are not being inspired by what you see in front of you, turn around and take a photo of that. So I did. And it was way better!

 









I swear to you I did not tweak the color of the sky. I added a little clarity and contrast to the foreground and a little film grain because with the lowest possible ISO setting, it needed it. This was a 30 second exposure at f25 about 20 minutes after sunset. That is the real color of the sky when exposed that long.


So, lesson for the day, go a little further down the road, venture off the beaten path, look around you and behind you, and experience life as it is in all of its grandness and not through a two inch LCD screen.


Oh, and here's a little something from playing with my new telephoto zoom lens. Mmmmm... it's a tasty lens for sure.