Photographix Camera Clubs Trip to Arizona!

When starting this I was going to call it what it was intended.. "Antelope Canyon Field Trip."  But as you can see by the wide range of photos flooding the feed here on Photographix that title really leaves most of the correct description out.

Thursday May 27th

Doug and I (Rusty) went down a day sooner than the rest of the group.  Doug had to go audit a company that his company may be working with soon and they needed to check out the facility and equipment used.  The drive down was about 700 miles from Ogden to Payson, AZ and about 3/4 of the trip was COVERED IN SNOW!  And yes, this was the end of May!

And being how Doug and I are also photographers that can not keep our fingers off the shutter button we had to stop several times on the way down making it a much longer drive than it could have been but hey, what are you going to do!

Also... we got stuck in the sand.. I don't want to talk about it... lol

We arrived well after dark and got a few winks in before heading out in the AM.  

Friday May 30th

Doug and I arrived at the company that was to be evaluated and with camera in hand I was ready to snap a few simple shots here and there when asked to by Doug for images that may be helpful with the audit.  Little did I know that I would be working today...  About 5 min into the tour of the facility I was shooting shots for the companies website and whatever else they may need them for. 

Tripod, flash brackets and a few different lenses were toted around as Doug went with one guy and I the other.  About two hours later we all met back up for some head shots of the COE and Vice, downloaded the images to their comp and were off!

After a quick stop for a fuel up we grabbed some snacks and did the dishes (it's an inside thing lol) we turned on Pam, my phone/GPS, and she instructed us in her calm tone to turn right and head back North towards Page.  

The drive was going to be another long one but not quite as long as the drive down.  Luckily we found happy hippie hitchhiker that we picked up to keep us entertained for a bit of the drive.  The guy had a huge pack on, a bandanna holding his natural dread-locks up and a homemade (road made I should say) cigarette tucked into the bandanna and a Naked brand juice with the label taken off in one hand.  He talked about how he had been from Canada and has traveled by passerby all over the United States and down to some parts of Mexico.  Doug asked him if he had a camera to snap some shots of his journey and he replied that he did not.  Doug and I almost cried!  What a waist! But then again we are photographers and cant really see it any other way.  We dropped him off about 30 or so miles down the road at the next intersection where Doug grabbed a quick photo of him and we parted ways.

Heading back up Doug and I stopped at several places again even though we wanted to make it into Page at a reasonable time to maybe get some shooting in with whoever might want to that made it in that night.  

During the drive one of the guides that would be leading one of the groups through the slot canyon the next morning called Doug and asked if we had any plans for the evening.  We told him that it would depend on what the club members were doing and who all would be in town but said that we would probably not have a whole lot of people wanting another full tour of anything because it was not really in the budget.  Mylo (the guide) said that he would be more than happy to take us to a spot to shoot while the sun set and not require any payment whatsoever for it.  We called around to see where everyone would be at that night and ended up taking him up on his generous offer.  

Checking into the clubs main hotel when we arrived in Page was an adventure itself with many room keys not working and trying to throw something more into the itinerary for the club at the same time while trying not to miss sunset.  About 4 cars including the carpool van loaded up and Mylo met up with us and lead the caravan out on some dirt roads that spread like blood veins over the Colorado Plateau to a spot where some beautiful hoodoos where just starting to get their evening bath of color.  We quickly set up and started shooting.

After the light was gone and the wind was cutting us to the bone with bitter cold we jumped into our caravan and headed back to Page where we grabbed a bite with the group that went to the Hoodoos. Plans were discussed about heading back out to do some star trails but plans were made to head out early in the morning just about an hour sooner than planned for the sunrise over Horseshoe Bend that way we could just get up early and go to bed at a good time at least. 

Oh and JAZZ WON! Off to round 2 against the Lakers!! WOO HOO!

Saturday March 1st

Alarms were going off around 3:00am this morning as we were getting up to go shoot start trails before the sunrise over Horseshoe Bend.  All that were going out met in the parking lot and we headed out.  The moon was so bright that night that exsposures long enough to catch the star trails was just about not going to happen but with that much light at night some very cool shots were taken with some less long exposures and we were able to shoot some of the bend before sunrise even.  Either way it was a great morning spent with some great photographers and friends!

 "Ohh baby YOU!... Got what I need!!!"  If you were not there, that will not make much since lol.

After the amazing sunrise we all headed out on our own to grab breakfast and to pack up our hotel rooms for those that would be headed home that day.

We met up outside the hotel and gathered two groups together.  One group would be headed up by Doug and one by me.  We had 28 photographers on the trip and that was way to many for just one group so we had to split up into two groups.  Because shooting the light beams only happens during a short period around noon we had to use two different tour companies and go in at around the same time.

Both groups jumped on the back of covered trucks and we were driven out to the entrance of the Antelope Slot Canyon.  It was very crowded and I would guess that at any given time in the canyon there were at least 200+ people in the short 1/8 of a mile long narrow canyon so shooting was going to be a tricky experience.  The tour guides did very well with crowd control and keeping there cool with the whole thing.  I know that I would have exploded several times at people in frustration but that is how it goes in there.  We were walking in other groups shots and they were walking in ours but that was expected.  Getting the shot was a challenge but I think that most if not all of us got at least something out of the canyon.

The main goal going in at the time we were going it at was to catch some of the short lived light beams as they broke the top of the canyon and hit the sand at the bottom.  To do this the guides would do their best to quickly set up the groups in the area where the beams would hit before there were actually even there.  Wide angle lenses front and low and so on to the back of the group with the more narrow lenses.

My group got out of the canyon first and headed back into town and Doug's group followed shortly after.  Then most of us headed to the steak house for lunch where Doug and I had made reservations for the whole group the day before for lunch and a "de-briefing" 

So, we sent everyone on their own way and most of us headed back home. 

Is that the end?? NO!  We got a tip from Mylo the tour guide again about some California Condors that have been seen off a bridge back South of Page a bit so a few vehicles full of people headed off to see what we could find and sure enough.. CONDORS!  There were a total of five of the giant scavenger birds flying around and everyone grabbed their longest lens (or someone else's) a tripod and ran out on the bridge and started firing away!

(no you do not see the sign in the last pic by the way)

The condors circled above us, hovered in front of us and dove under us for well over an hour!  It was a great show that the birds put on for us and it added another exciting addition to the trip and several hours more drive time to the commute home but well worth it!

Overall it was a fantastic trip and it was very fun to shoot with some great photographers and hang out for the weekend in a beautiful place with some great friends and club members!

Photos posted by club members can be found HERE.  Also, fellow photographers feel free to join up with the photo club if you are not a member already!  A free club for Utah photographers of ANY type!

I am putting together a slideshow and video clip DVD of the trip also and will post the video when I have finished it so keep an eye out for that!