JMW Natures Images' photostream  

The campground that I was staying in is to the left of that bulge(Saddlehorn) in the upper left. You can drive and hike out onto that ridge in the upper part of this image. If you look real close at the outer end of that ridge you can se the feature this park calls The Window. It is actually the beginnings of a true arch that you walk over.

There are many rim trails you can easily hike working back to the Visitors Center ( just below the Saddlehorn) in which you can shoot looking back at this locations. Great shooting from there both morning and evening at that time of year.

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Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture f/14.0
Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Polarising Filter

It is a looooog way down to the bottom of this canyon...most places its over 1000 ft. and some nearly 2000 ft. The telephoto lens lets you get right down there and see details that's a bit hard to see from up top.

I have no idea just how many rapids,nor the scale rating of them, but there's a bunch. this river drops an average of 96 feet in a mile, and in one location it drops 480 feet in a 2 mile stretch. Its no wonder just how much water played its role in carving out this deep canyon...of course it took millions of years to do so. You won't see significant changes in your lifetime...for sure.

There are just fantastic views with many lookouts with very short easy hikes on both sides(rims) for your enjoyment. Photography is difficult here, but can be done.

If you may be interested in seeing more of what I was able to shoot, please take a look at my folder for a few more images from both sides of this canyon, and go to:www.nps/blca.

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Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/4.5
Canon 100-400mm IS L
Focal Length 100 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

I was killing some time early one afternoon (note my Exif Data time was way off??) and found these nice aspen trees. I used the 30D IR camera with a wide angle of view and got right inside the grove of these trees and began looking for the unusual, not your everyday scene. I must have worked in there for over an hour.

One of the interesting things that I have found when working in B&W IR is that the brighter times of the day are actually the best, not unlike conventional color photography. Having just said that, I also found that early or late in the day when the shadows are long and the light more the liking of conventional color photography, this IR Color filter responds quite differently with some really nice images posssible. I'm still a bit new to this IR photography and this new filter but I really like it so far.

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Camera Canon EOS 30D-IR
Exposure 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture f/22.0
Tamron 17-35 f2.8
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV

Its not very often that I am pressured in my photography. I wanted more waterfalls on this trip, but this day was not going well...its raining like hell...its was a quite steep muddy,slippery hike up here and the lighting was not the best to work with and it was not going to change. It rained all night and into most of the next day.

I wanted more water...over the falls...not on top of me.

I canceled out the next waterfall due to the rain when I got up the next morning. So ya make the best of a given situation. The sky was white/gray and it was a chore keeping 2 cameras and lenses dry under a rain jacket and plastic baggies.

I actually thought that this was where I was going down for the second time on this trip. Given the fact of all the hiking up and down in and out of good weather conditions, a couple of falls is reasonable...but not when you have had a total knee replacement. So I just had to take it slow and steady and use my walking stick to help going up and coming down steep trails. It was a real hoot for sure, but I love it.

Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure 1
Aperture f/22.0
Canon 24-70 f2.8L
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV

This is a N&W version of an earlier post in color. To better see all of the details in this you really need to view this much Larger on Black.

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/5.6
Canon 100-400mm IS, L
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Polarising Filter