107 degrees, overcast – a good day for a photographer to take it easy and actually relax!

Today I took it easy, slept in a bit, did a little reading, went to see Ant Man (fun) and read and passed along the paper Carol Terracina and I are working on for AEJMC. A relaxing day. It’s threatening rain. I might go out to see how the desert deals with it, of course staying away from washes and flash flood areas.

Tomorrow I leave Mesquite very early in the morning and head to Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks. 107 today, 50 tomorrow!

By the way, the pics you see are my workstation set up in my condo with the trees blowing outside the window, yesterday amongst the mass of humanity in Antelope Canyon and the view off my balcony to the south – somethings brewing!.

Look for new pics in a couple of days as I will be away from wifi for a couple of days. Later!

Wind, water and wonder in the slot canyons of Northern Arizona.

This day’s adventure started in the road at 4am, heading to Page Arizona – three hours from Mesquite, Nevada, my current home away from home. Thus began a puzzling conundrum… What time was it really? My car clock and cell phone jumped ahead an hour as soon as I hit the Utah border. Needless to say, I panicked a bit before finally checking with my destination (after waiting two long hours for them to get into their office) to find out (to my relief!) that Arizona, although east of my location in Utah, was an hour early because they do not practice daylights savings time.

That crisis averted (I thought I was going to be an hour late because I forgot Nevada was in west coast time – not mountain), I journeyed to Page for a wonderful morning exploring Owl, Rattlesnake and Upper Antelope slot canyons. Check out my shots in the gallery. A truly amazing place. The colors are beautiful, especially if you use time exposures when shooting in the slot canyons.

I was a little disappointed in Upper Antelope Canyon because there were literally hundreds of people walking through so I didn’t get too many good shots. However, in Owl Canyon and Rattlesnake canyons, I was in a group with one other photographer and our navajo guide Macarther. Macarther showed us some great locations for shots and left us to do what we wished, no jostling crowds. Just the two photographers and the canyons. I have dozens of pretty good shots of both – some of them are in the gallery.

The journey back to Nevada was beautiful with white horsetail cirrus clouds in the sky and beautiful vistas most of the way back. A great day in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Tomorrow I relax and work on some academic stuff then Friday it is off to Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks!

Nature’s architects and engineers worked their wonders with wind and water creating amazing co

Today, I decided to stick closer to home base and not do the three hour trek to Bryce. That will wait until Thursday. Instead, I journeyed south to Valley of Fire State Park. I must say hiking in 100 degree temperatures is a bit daunting but the scenery was spectacular. Deep orange reds, darker reds, blues, whites and even purple! At times the rocks looked like a carmel and vanilla swirl. It is amazing what nature can do.

After roaming the wilds, I decided to indulge in my second passion and check out a movie. There’s nothing better than a cool, dark theatre when it is 106 outside. I went to see Paper Towns. Well written and acted. A great way to spend two hours beating the heat.

Tomorrow I hit the road at 4am (Yeh, a spectacular event in itself considering I’m not a morning person!) I will be doing a three canyon photography tour near Page, Arizona – home of Antelope Canyon – one of the three canyons. They photo opportunities should be wonderful. That said, time to hit the hay!

Enjoy the new additions to the gallery!