Cliff and Cloud: Photos of the American Southwest (Part 1)

Two weeks ago, I traveled to Las Vegas with my dearest friend and partner.  Las Vegas itself was not the main attraction for us, but rather the amazing natural surroundings nearby.  We spent two days on, in, and around the Grand Canyon's South Rim.  My Nikon D300 made the trip with us, and I fancied myself an Ansel Adams in the making.  The light was so clear and bright that I rarely took a photo below an aperture setting of f/16.  I had my camera on manual focus except when I saw interesting birds or animals that I feared I wouldn't be fast enough to capture.  Most of my photos were taken while hiking, which was an awe-inspiring experience both on the Bright Angel Trail and later when we traveled to Zion National Park and hiked (almost) to Angel's Landing.  It's difficult to acknowledge such huge landscapes as reality, especially coming from the tree-carpeted Northeast.  What I found even more difficult was successfully conveying the immensity of the earth and the sense of just how small you are in such a landscape.  I found it exhilarating to stand in the dry desert air and know just how much beauty there was for me to discover.

Our hike began with a thunderstorm that left hail on the trail.  All the hail had melted by the time we hiked back up.

Western scrub jay

If you want to camp at the bottom of the canyon, you can hire mules to carry your gear.

This was a very friendly spiny lizard that ran between my legs as I was photographing it.  We also saw many less cooperative whiptails.

Looking down at Indian Garden.

Courting spiny lizards.

Saw a swallow narrowly avoid being dinner for two peregrine hawks right after taking this photo!

Dusting off my cameras

Dusted off the D300
digital photograph
Nikon D100

Having a little bit of time off after the holiday rush led to me dusting off the Nikon D300 which I got for Christmas last year and used... once.  It sat staring balefully at me through its lens cover, neglected for nearly an entire year, sending little tingles of guilt through me every time I glanced its way.  Both of my cameras and nearly all of my accompanying equipment are very generous gifts from my dad, who does some amazing bird photography for his own blog.  I originally pilfered his old Pentax film SLR for my photography class at Mason Gross.

One of the most important and lasting lessons from my professor, LaToya Frazier, was trying to take the shot so that little to no editing is required.  This (can sometimes) result in quality photographs, and requires patience; taking many shots as various aperture settings, compositions, and shutter speeds are adjusted; and an understanding of lighting and your subject matter.  Doing all of this with a film camera and developing my own film was both highly stressful and rewarding.  I remember sweating in the dark room, fumbling with rolls of film as I transferred them from the camera to the spool for developing, praying that I didn't wreck a few hours worth of shooting.  I felt like a wizard dodging and burning the photosensitive paper, and putting the paper through its chemical washes.  I also keenly felt the high prices of film and other equipment.  Often, I would not take more than the minimum three shots recommended per composition so that I would not have to buy as much film.

Access to a DSLR and a computer took away a lot of that stress, but also a little bit of the magic, too.  Digital photography is a boon for a hectic schedule, yet even so, my photography dropped off during my long artistic hiatus.  Of course, my battery life was nearly exhausted for my D300, so instead, I got out the D100 while I began charging the lithium batteries, which is a slightly older and heavier model.  I currently have a 77mm telescopic lens on it.  I just stuck around the house for my re-entry into photography, taking advantage of the slanting winter light streaming into my home.

Ficus Leaves
Digital photograph
Nikon D100