Grand Canyon Sunset
One thing I love the most about being an Arizona landscape photographer is how dynamic our light is out here and how dramatically it affects the scene that I’m shooting. Recently, my father and I took our very first camping trip together up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Being up there only a short walk from the edge of the canyon afforded us a pretty special experience. We were able to see both the sunset and the sunrise. After setting up camp we took the walk over to set up our cameras for sunset. What’s really nice about being able to stay up there is that the tourists all leave and you have the entire canyon to yourself. As we set up our tripods and found our compositions the light became fantastic… an already impressive scene became more and more beautiful with every minute as the Sun approached the horizon.
I made the choice to shoot a panorama of the Grand Canyon as the Sun went down to our left. The image below is the result of a 4 shot stitch. Shooting with the 80 megapixel Leaf Credo medium format digital camera in vertical orientation I was able to record unreal amounts of detail and tonal gradation.
I am really happy with the mood and feeling of this image. As the sunset began to peak I spun the camera to find a Juniper to my left had become gorgeously back lit. I was able to get off two frames before it lost its dramatic lighting.
Overall this camping trip was pretty incredible. Not only did I add some new Arizona landscape photography images to my collection, but I got to bond with my Dad which was something both of us really cherish.
One last shot to share before I go. Just an iPhone snap, but the campground was just too cool not to share.
