Did anyone catch the latest full moon? This year the Harvest Moon rise was about 7 PM and the sun set was about 6:30 PM. It’s like the universe timed this moment perfect for Arizona photographers. Personally, I love to capture the wonderful spectrum of colors produced by the sunset.
The 2021 Harvest Moon was spectacular orb rising through the sky like a light being hoisted by a crane from behind the horizon. The moon continues to amaze as it rose seemingly out of no where behind a modern wonder under construction. A heavenly body that has bewildered satient beings roaming the earth for millions of years.
I decided to knock a couple things off my bucket list this week. For a guy who has lived in Arizona over half his life now, it was time to visit the Grand Canyon. For some reason it’s one of those places I kind of expected to visit with someone special, but no point in waiting.
I was looking into the trip a couple weeks in advance to coincide with dark skies for some Milky Way shots. It was tough making up my mind if I should go to the North or South Rim. I had picked some places that would work for a really long day into the night. A few days before I was thinking the South Rim would be best. There are a few areas to peel off east for camping and great foregrounds for a night shot of the Milky Way.
The day of I just woke up and Googled Grand Canyon. It came up with the Skywalk. The Mitsubishi Outlander was loaded up for a night of photography and I headed out. And once again proper planning was not happening. I just got out of Phoenix when Google Maps directed me to Arizona State Highway 74. I was thinking, “Hmmm that doesn’t seem right…” Then continued anyway thinking it wouldn’t be that big of deal. I needed to kill time until the afternoon casted shadows along the canyon anyway. When I arrived I realized this was more suited for tourism.
Despite what it looks like zoomed out on a digital map the Grand Canyon is pretty large. I ended up turning around to make it to the South Rim before dark. Honestly this is how I like operating anyway. It’s exploration and scouting for future trips. One day I will give it a go again.
Please check with the Navajo Nation Parks for guided tours on sovereign land.
Desert View Watch Tower
So after another 200 something miles I ended up at the Desert View Watch Tower. Along the way I noticed the Slate Fire billowing smoke. The smoke was dissipating over the Navajo Nation along Route 64. It created some interesting filtered light as the afternoon sun shone through. Eventually I was on the other side of the smoke at the Grand Canyon Desert View Watch Tower entrance.
Image taken from Desert View Watch Tower viewing area. Smoke from the Slate fire can be seen in the upper left of the photo.
The crowd was light since it was a week day, but still required some patience to get in position for shots. I have to admit my issues with vertigo kicked in. What was weird though is when looking through the view finder of the camera the feelings went away. Only to come back with a vengeance soon as I pulled the camera away. I was sure I was going to lose balance and bounce off canyon walls to a brutal demise.
View of the desert watch tower over the Grand Canyon with cloudy smoke filled skies
View southwest of the watch tower with the afternoon sun setting
I tested my gut a few more times along the southwest side of the watch tower with no guardrail. I had to squat to keep from feeling wobbly, but still managed to get this photo above.
A crow happened to fly by as I was setting up for a stacked image of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River
Purple Majesty – Composite image with colorization and layer blending
As I was walking back to the parking lot I came across some Apache Plume. And a Tarantula Hawk… Not sure what it is, but seems like I have been seeing a lot of these insects lately. This time I was in a better position to get a great shot of the feather like flowers with the dark shades of the the ominous insect.
Apache Plume close-up
A Tarantula Hawk in Apache Plume with curled antennae
Desert View Drive
It’s funny how quickly the sun sets when you have things to get done in daylight. I continued along Desert View Drive to see more spectacular views of this amazing chasm cutting through the earth. The next stop was Navajo Point, which was a little less crowded.
View form Navajo Point of the Grand Canyon
View of sun over a hazy Grand Canyon from Lipan Point
I continued on to Lipan Point where the wind and sun created a view DaVinci would love with an endless atmospheric perspective. Looking at my map, I knew I didn’t have much time to spare getting the best pictures. I was pleasantly surprised with how well these images stacked for a high definition resolution (HDR) without using a tripod.
Western view of the Grand Canyon from Lipan point.
The sunsets behind the clouds and trees from an unnamed scenic viewpoint
A juniper flower catching the last of the sunlight.
Duck on a Rock scenic Viewpoint of the Grand Canyon
The view of the Duck on a Rock was a quick stop. I noticed along the way people were using drones. The kid flying one here mentioned if it went sideways he would lose it. It makes me wonder how many drones and other objects rest at the bottom of these scenic outlooks of the Grand Canyon.
Unknown viewpoint of the Grand Canyon during the Blue hour
The last picture I took I think gives a better idea of the scope of the Grand Canyon. First of all Evil Knievel ain’t making that with out some wings. This was created by water over millions of years. Millions of years! It makes you think about how brief our lives are in the grand scheme of it all. Also it made me think about how nice it would be to sleep in my bed and I drove back to Phoenix for the night.
Meteor Crater
The next day I woke up and started working on the Grand Canyon images. I was a little miffed about the Slate Fire and clouds. But both were out of my control. I kept taking a look at the evolving weather along Baja, Mexico to see if there was a chance for clear skies that night. I figured it was worth a try and headed North again.
Panoramic view of Meteor Crater
Apollo 11 test capsule
As a kid it was a dream of mine to become an astronaut, when I saw the Apollo 11 test capsule was there I had to go. Meteor Crater is a private facility that was also used to train astronauts for the moon landing. To me it’s an engineering feat that we did so much with so little at that time in history. Notice how this looks like a diving bell, which is a 400 year old invention. The difference between water and the layers of the atmosphere is density along with other gases. So basically this is a really sturdy balloon.
It’s also where scientific advancements were made in determining what a meteor crater looks like in comparison to other similar geological phenomenon. Now think of the crater by the Yucatan Peninsula, yikes! But this is the knowledge we need to develop technology to prevent future catastrophe. As pessimistic as I am at times, I believe humanity will transcend all the politics and grievances we have with each other to survive millions of years.
View from the top of Meteor Crater of Humphrey’s Peak and the Slate Fire smoke
Chavez Pass Road
Sunset through Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) and dust along Chavez Pass
Along the way in to Meteor Crater I saw a nicely grated road heading south. Part of my visit was to see how a shot of the Milky Way might work out. I had called earlier in the day to see about staying late, but was informed I would have to wait for the next event still being planned for this fall.
I asked the person in the ticket booth about the road and was told it goes to Highway 87. He warned me I would need a 4×4 to get through the river, but I gave it a try anyway. There are cattle and the land on both sides of the road is posted private property in most parts until the road gets rough.
I made it through some pretty rugged areas and once again had to turn back when the going was too much for my front wheel drive vehicle. For the most part it had the clearance, but getting up hills with loose dirt and rocks was beyond it’s capabilities. There was a couple times I had a white flash of fear run through me thinking I might be spending the night out there.
Sun setting on Chavez Pass Road
After turning back I stopped a couple times to capture the setting sun. This area is also grounds to a herd of elk and by the smell of it a mountain lion.
South of Meteor Crater Panoramic Sunset with Humphrey’s Peak in the distance
Milky Way Core with clouds and light pollution from Payson, AZ
I planned on using the road to get to Jacks Canyon or a place I could be without being disturbed in some dark skies. I stayed up until about midnight getting my shots in before taking a nap. The dark skies were amazing. I could see the Milky Way like it was a ring around Earth. But that’s not actually what it is. That would be like saying the sun revolves around Earth. Our Solar System is just one of millions of stars floating in the Milky Way Galaxy.
I woke up around 1:30 in the morning and started to take more photos. I’m still learning how to adjust my equipment to line up shots. Basically, it’s like taking a vertical panoramic photo from the inside of an orb. Like an artist translating a 3D object into a 2D canvas from inside it.
I was using a 50mm for this final image, which later I stacked three images each to reduce camera noise and a final panoramic of three images for this result. The Milky Way continues 180 degrees and I knew then it would get a bit confusing in production since I wasn’t meticulously keeping shot notes.
Milky Way at 10:30 PM PST Jacks Canyon June 8th, 2021
Sunrise through junipers in the high desert of Arizona
I wasn’t getting the best of sleep that night, but I was grateful to wake up to the rising sun. The trip was successful in my opinion. When I go out like this, I just want to come home with at least one good image. I achieved what I set out to do with this time. Despite the folly and physical and mental pain. This is about doing things I didn’t have an opportunity to do before. And mostly for the challenge of living life outside of the bubble, I live in Phoenix. Get out for some sunsets and Milky Way photos.
Please check with the Navajo Nation Parks for guided tours on sovereign land.
Check out Grand Canyon West, where you can walk over the Grand Canyon on a glass bridge!
Yes that’s right folks! Rainbows, lightning, and dust storms all in one sitting. Well for me at least. I am working on the time lapse, but here are some early images to show off. I used a little Photoshop magic to combine the lighting shot. Unfortunately, I was fumbling with settings when it was lighter out and a handful of strikes went off in camera view with brighter skies.
This is a similar time of day as the Sunset Light Study from a few days ago with the Goldfield mountain range behind the camera. I’m interested to see if anyone else caught these images from a different perspective.
Rainbow on the edge of a dust stormLightning in a monsoon dust storm
Sunsets in Arizona are one of our states selling points for tourism worldwide. Here’s a sunset light study with a rare shot of the Superstition Mountains face with light being cast through a narrow opening of clouds. The sun is falling behind the Goldfield mountain range, behind the camera, yet to settle below the horizon.
It starts off as a brilliant copper glow and gradually shifts towards the natural sanguine, sepia, and burnt umber hues. During a thick monsoon season we get the large cumulus clouds hanging above. This year as been a bit off, but stay tuned I’ve been keeping my eye on it with the NOAA app and on the ground visuals.
Six photos of different light cast on the mountains
The video below starts with the natural color to create a better loop. The images above is how I capture it and I created the video by tweening 20 frames between each image.
Golden Hour
Kapow! Here’s the sun setting through the clouds between the mountain peaks. I like the initial photos where it appears the sun has a crown. I was using the 50mm 1.8 on a Canon D2000/T7i. The first few photos are using f/22, a small aperture, and high speeds to create the beams of light. Later on in the study I was looking to capture more foreground and slowed the speed down using the same aperture.
Here’s the light behind the camera. I was actually catching different stages of the sun setting behind a line of clouds. The clarity of the setting sun is diffused by the atmosphere of dust, Phoenix pollution and clouds along with the slower speeds. This is an HDR composite and I could probably use any of the image above to fake the funk. I purposely chose a mountain ridge as a background to easily align any future production work.
Before the Golden Hour
Here’s where I started to capture the light before going on a quick hike to find some critters and better foreground. I knew the sun would create some spectacular colors between the peaks and clouds in about 30 minutes to an hour. This is a composite image of the Goldfield Mountain range. The image was stitched between separate HDR composites top and bottom. The mountains made for an easy alignment.
The Gambit’s Quail below is about all the critter action I was able to capture. It had a line of chicks running behind it that skillfully disappeared into the brush. The giant Black Tail Jack Rabbit got away before I could focus on it. No picture, it didn’t happen right?
I thought if I just setup for the sunset in their foraging area, maybe just maybe, they would come out for a photo shoot. Instead they kept me company in the brush with their little quail noises. I had a few minutes before the sun made it’s grand appearance and flipped into video mode. I need to work on video setting on my camera, but this is a sample of the quails and other birds settling in for the night.
The composite is right before the sun started to fall below the clouds.
A Hanging Fruit Cholla with a little flower.
Blue Hour
Before leaving I captured what was left of the light. The photo below was taken during the transition of golden hour to the blue hour I suppose. The mountain shadows make the foreground difficult to work with. I was thinking if I had a model this would require lighting to be setup. Yes, I went a little overboard editing this.
Here’s an example of a softer image of the Phoenix skyline that required less editing. This was taken with a full-frame sensor and captures more pixels and subtle light gradients. It was capture using the 50mm 1.2L, which the combo makes a big difference.
Yesterday a new camera, Canon EOS 2000D (T7), arrived to replace the one lost. I’m really happy with the results working with about twice the pixels of the 1300D (T6).
Pink Oleanders in the morning grey
The Oleander shots required some work to bring out the whites and soft tones. Surprising the noise at 400 ISO is subtle and hardly noticeable in the jpegs.
Light from darkness
First sunset with European Canon EOS 2000D
The cover photo was the first sunrise and this is the first sunset captured. Looking forward to many more.
Momma walking with her duckling
This was a cute moment momma walking behind her duckling to keep it safe.
Boots the eyes of an old soul
Finally had to get one of Boots. He’s a new friend. Can’t say as much for Harper quite yet. She more bothered than he is. Boots gives her a slow eye kiss and a rough crackling meow.
