Eclipse Road Trip

When a Solar Eclipse passes just a few hours north of where you live and you have no obligations tying you down... You just don't say no to the opportunity to go and see it. You just don't. 

I didn't find out about the Annular Solar Eclipse until just two days before it.  As much fun as it would be to photograph it... The proper equipment to do it, is thousands of dollars... and not even really an area that a Landscape/Fine Art Photographer is really equipped for. (Even worse is that I put my good tripod in the wrong car the night before and didn't realise it until it was far too late. Ooops.)  

I would have loved to take my dad's advice to find interesting ways to photograph it, like through a small cloud bank, or filtered through tree branches and leaves (creates an effect on the ground like hundreds of pinhole cameras) ... But this is northern Arizona we're talking about. What clouds? What trees? (If you've never had the pleasure of driving Route 89 north of Flagstaff, it's kind of a barren wasteland of colorful rock and the sun never seems to go away.)

Now I debated where to go for this. True, I could have gone for the southern rim of the Grand Canyon and seen both the spectacular part of the Canyon and the Eclipse... but that was not on the center line. The GC at that end was only going to get an 86% Eclipse. But just about 45 more minutes north and I could see the full "Ring of Fire" that the Annular Eclipse is known for.  If you're going to go for it.. then go all the way, right? 

I started my trek north with Marble Canyon and the Navajo Bridge as my destination in mind. Beautiful sight for certain... but a crappy location for the eclipse.  The sun was going to dip behind the cliffs for the eclipse so I had to back track. The advise I got from a local was to head for Page. I still had well over an hour before it was going to begin which really was plenty of time, so I headed east.  

I only made it few miles before I spotted a few cars pulled off the road and although I don't usually 'follow the herd', this seemed like a good time to. 

.... To be continued ....

Sunset

There is zero retouching or altering of this image... I only cropped it.

I love Cacti ... and sunsets.

That is all.

The Journey

It's not the destination, but the journey that matters.

We've all heard that phrase and it really is true.

Today was a beautiful sunny and 75F kind of day and we decided to head on up to Sadona for some random sightseeing... we did not count on a traffic jam on 17N. After crawling up the highway at an average of 3mph... for 90 minutes... we had had enough and jumped off on the very first exit. We had no idea where we were or where we were going. It didn't matter.

For three hour we basically just tooled around and when we found something we wanted to see, we just pulled over and went for it. Total freedom.

We really didn't get far out of Phoenix at all and eventually ended up at Lake Pleasant Regional Park. I had no idea there was a lake here in the desert. It's made we want to see it from other angles and find Waddel Damn. I hope to go on another one of these random adventures soon. Maybe next week?

We never made it to Sadona. I still want to because I know that it is a stunning place to see... Not to mention that I am dying to photograph there. My only worry is that it's too cliche, that everyone goes there to photograph the place... so we'll see.

Southwest Teaser

Hey everyone! Guess where your fave photog is right now!

Lilac Festival

It's amazing the difference that lighting can make.

Not to mention the way personal preferences can shape the way you see an image.

Below I played with only two different flower clusters, the images taken within minutes of each other, but just the shift in position and the change in the sun make all the difference.

In these two images, I like the elegance of the first one the way the sun is catching the petals...

but I am drawn to the second one more. For me, there is something about the soft sea of flowers, delicately kissed by the purple in their centers. I might drop in a little closer and truly flood the frame in flowers.

Again the same flower cluster in these two images.

The front lit image shows incredible detail and color, it's what drew me to this particular bush.

But it feels too sterile to me when I look at it now.

I moved around to capture this same flower with the sun now at its back. Everything about this image is more pleasing to me. The darker negative spaces, the halo glow on the flowers. The softness in the petals emulates the sweetness of the lilac itself.

This is my new desktop.

Lilac Festival

I shot over a hundred images at the festival, but for the moment, this one is my very favorite one.