Returning to the Grand Canyon is a big part of my “Visit Flagstaff” plan. I own a much better camera than I did in 2022, and I wanted to focus on sunrise and sunset photography.
The Grand Canyon south rim visitor center is about a two hour drive from my address in Flagstaff. There is no way I’m going to try that drive at 3:00am to catch the dawn. So, I set up two nights in a hotel just outside the park’s south entrance. The hotel check-in was at 4:00pm, so I drove early in support of one of the hints I found online:
Lesson #1 – Visit your photo spots the day before in the sunlight
This was such a great point. Yes, I’ve visited the park before – but it was several years ago. Who knows what has changed. I arrived around 2:30pm and discovered my next lesson:
Lesson #2 – Account for traffic
About 1/2 a mile out the traffic jammed up outside the gate. It took 30-minutes to cross that half-mile. I thought I was trying to find parking in Disney World. I had already downloaded the “America the Beautiful” annual park pass, so once at the gate it was a simple scan and off I went.
I started at Mather Point, which is the classic Grand Canyon spot as it’s not far from the visitor center. Here I set up my first “real” use of the Color Checker.
It’s the middle of monsoon season in Arizona, so there is more greenery than I remember from my last visit. The clouds were very supportive of the scenery.
I then moved to Desert View Watchtower, about 20 miles to the east (near the eastern park entrance). Here Lesson #1 was re-confirmed. I would have been very nervous driving this road for the first time in the dark. Sure, there were some sharp curves, but in addition there were deer and elk everywhere. I swear one was no less than 7-foot tall, not counting antlers.
This is a great view of a caldera and ridge to the east. I had high hope for sunrise pictures from here.
I learned a bunch about the workflow of using the Color Checker and that educated me for the following days. I enjoy setting up panoramic shots by taking several (as many as 10) full resolution images and them joining them together in Light Room. That gives me a lot of pixels to bring out details.
There is a convenience store near the parking lot that sold Prickly Pear margarita mix. Who know?
First sunrise tomorrow!
Cruise Boy 