2013—Day 79 or Day 55—Shadows in the Canyon

I’ve noticed that since my return from the Grand Canyon, my photos tend to be closeups and mostly small objects, nothing on the grand scale of the Grand Canyon. I yearn for some dramatic landscapes but I don’t have the time to find any. So, I looked at some of my Grand Canyon shots and decided to post a few. These are from Sunday morning, February 24, Day 55, the last morning we went out at sunrise. The temperature was 0 degrees, maybe a degree or two less, and there was wind; lots of it. I don’t know what the wind chill factor was but I have never been so cold. When it was clear that I couldn’t take the cold any longer, one of my fellow photographers suggested I walk around to get the blood circulating in my fingers and toes. I think his suggestion saved me. Moving around briskly got the circulation flowing again and I felt some life come back into my digits. I went back and captured a few of my favorite shots of the morning. I took the first two as my fingers deadened with the cold; all feeling was gone and I could barely operate the camera. I took the last two about 15 minutes later, after walking in circles for about ten minutes, with a bit of feeling back in them. I love the first two because the dramatic black shadow in the middle of the shots reminds me of the burnt edge of a piece of paper. I used my 70-200mm lens and took the first set at 200mm and the second at 110mm. I was facing west. I took the last two shots facing north toward the north rim of the canyon at 70mm and 160mm. I like these shots because the sky was darkening dramatically in the north and the shadows created by the clouds and the diagonal edges of the canyon make for interesting photographs.