I had an early flight yesterday morning from Las Vegas to Chicago. The sun wasn’t even high enough to touch the desert and mountains below after we had crossed Lake Mead, but its first light was reflected nicely by the clouds north of us and the inlet cowl of the jet engine nacelle on our aircraft. The Nikon Z6II was safely stored in my luggage in the overhead compartment and so the old rule, that the best camera is always the one you have with you, was confirmed to be true ones again. I shot this quickly with my iPhone camera before this brief and magical moment was over.
STAY LATE, BE REWARDED
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35, f/4 @ 35 mm, 1/160 s, f/11, ISO 200
The question is, how can we beat the harsh light at the Grand Canyon in Arizona when there is no single cloud expected for the whole day and be finally rewarded with some good images? It is simple, be there before sunrise or during sunset. The first didn’t work for me, my hotel was too far away to make it, but I probably would have kicked myself later, if I had left the canyon too early. There are many overlooks and locations that are good for shooting during sunset. My choice was Navajo Point near the east entrance of the National Park. The Colorado River changes direction in this area, you have a deep view into the tribal lands of the Navajo nation, all the way to the Vermilion Cliffs at the horizon, and the watch tower at the Desert View visitor center sits on top of the steep canyon walls. I watched the shadows creeping up the canyon walls facing to the west and tried many different focal lengths from 16 mm to 35 mm. Not using a tripod made me actually very flexible (my luggage space was limited and I left it at home) and so I shot from a variety of different angles and positions, with and without foreground. The setting sun is not in this image, but the long shadows that quickly took possession of every sunny spot tell the story about a gorgeous evening at the Grand Canyon.