To peer into the vastness of the Grand Canyon from any vantage point is to peer deep into the seeming endlessness of geological time. To gaze into its depths down the axis of Bright Angel Canyon looking toward its confluence with the greater chasm is to be given an added understanding of what “vast” really means. Dropping down the North Rim, the Bright Angel Point Trail descends to a steep, near vertical scarp overlooking the sinuous meander of the North Kaibab Trail as it climbs past the Transcept and begins its rise through Roaring Springs Canyon on the way to its rendezvous with the great rim far above. The view from Bright Angel Point reveals the lithic lines of a musical score which could only be seen as a hymn to all that is beautiful. Standing near the point, I chose a 66mm focal length to isolate what I felt. Using the rock ridge trailing into the canyon off of Oza Butte, on the right, as a foreground line, I stopped the ridge above its intersection with Bright Angel Canyon to lead the eye into Bright Angel and then diagonally down Bright Angel through its many convolutions toward the Grand itself in the top right of the image. I wanted to get as close to the top of the far South Rim in my composition as possible without including sky. An aperture of f/22 provided depth-of-field; and a shutter speed of 0.3 second at ISO 100 gave an overall very-slightly-darker-than-medium exposure.
You’re a Master! A beautiful image.
WoW! That is jaw-dropping awesomeness!
I couldn’t take my eyes off all those lines and repeated shapes that must be angel wings. Your camera placement and focal length give us enough to get that this is a huge place. The changes in the color of the scene from front to back also helps see the distance. Love it! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Linda and Nancy T. Thank you both for joining me in this conversation. Gosh, Linda, it’s great to hear from you. The last time we talked you were headed to Colorado, as I recall. I hope that adventure has been an excellent one. I’d love to hear about it. Thanks for all of your kind words. I always appreciate that you like my work.Nancy T., I am always grateful to have you join me. Your image critiques have continued to deepen in their richness and thoughtfulness. The color change from front to back was something I might not have otherwise wished for, but I had no control over that other than what I chose to include/exclude in the frame. It just so happened that on the day we were there, the air was very “muggy” as they say in the South, and the haze was somewhat more of a curse than a blessing. I could have done without most of it, but it was there, and so I tried to use it to my advantage as much as possible. The effect, as you pointed out, was a certain aerial perspective that did add a sense of some depth to the image.Camera placement and the use of the canyon as a diagonal line helped make what use of the haze I could make, but in the end I liked the image because it was not quite the kind of Grand Canyon image that is so commonplace, and for that I was grateful.