Shelley and I arrived in Page Arizona just afternoon. Far too early to checking in to where we would be staying for the next couple of days. The Horseshoe Bend overlook that everyone goes to was undergoing extensive work by the National Park Service and the City of Page. More about that in a bit. With all the action happening at Horseshoe Bend Shelley and I went in search of something new. A place that we had never been to before. As luck would have it we were presented with a sign. The Glen Canyon Dam overlook.
Construction at Horseshoe Bend
The City of Page was building its new parking lot complete with toll booths. The parking lot and toll booths were the most visible improvements from the main route into Page from the south. Additionally, the NPS installed an observation deck with safety rails back in the Summer of 2018. For more information about the parking fees and hours of operation click here to visit the City of Page’s website.
Sunset Over the Colorado Near Page
Sometimes the Sun does not set exactly where you would like. Sometimes the light from the setting Sun does not reflect where you would like. There are times when leading lines fail you. The rules of photography are made to be broken. One must simply know when and how to break them. While searching for my first composition at the Glen Canyon Dam overlook I found one such composition. The structure of the rock was running counter to setting sun. The sky was liting up and the setting sun was bouncing off of the high clouds. I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 22mm, f16, and 1/4 of a second.
Twilight – Glen Canyon Dam
Light trails are some of my favorite things to photograph. In fact, I started a project called Rivers of Light back in 2013 when Shelley and I Photographed the Northern part of Morroco. To read more about my Rivers of Light – Ceuta Spain, click here. The photographs in that body of work have the light trails acting leading lines into the photograph. This was not to be the case when photographing the Glen Canyon Dam during blue hour. None the less I feel that the light trails in this photograph convey motion and help to light the dam in a unique way. I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 48mm, f8, and with a shutter speed of 20 seconds.
Stary Night – Near Page Arizona
As the blue hour was coming to an end Shelley made the suggestion that we try our hand at astrophotography. Seeing as there was little to no light pollution in the area. At least compared to what we are used to in the Kansas City area. I agreed. It took me a bit the find a foreground subject that I saw during our afternoon scouting session at this location. Once I located the rock feature that wanted I placed my tripod on the ground and locked in my camera.
After locking a composition it took me a few attempts to get the exposure correct for the image that I was trying to make. In the first couple, the rock feature in the foreground was too dark. The next couple of exposures I left my headtorch on the subject too long. Causing the rock to be way overexposed in the image. In the last two tries, I saw the photograph coming together. Below is the final exposure of the night. I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 21mm, f2.8, and 30 seconds. Not bad for my first attempt at astrophotography.
