Category Archives: Nature

Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Flowers, Historic Buildings, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Photography, Places to Shoot, Summer, Travel, Uncategorized

Black and White Photography, Flagstaff

October 14, 2020 Vicki Uthe 3 Comments

Black and White imagery can be stunning and powerful. In August of 2019 Joel Wolfson, a local Flagstaff photographer, was the instructor on an Arizona Highways PhotoScapes workshop on black and white photography held in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is one of the greatest places to be in the state of Arizona in August. I live here and I love working with Joel so I agreed to volunteer for the workshop. Like night photography, shooting in black and white is not my jam. I tend to turn color photos into black and white as an afterthought.

It was a three-day weekend workshop that began on a Friday with a long classroom session before shooting in the afternoon. It ended on Sunday by 3:30. It included two morning shoots, three afternoon shoots and lots of time in the classroom for critiques and lessons. There is a LOT to learn about black and white photography.

We learned about the zone system created by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer around 1940. The technique is based on late 19th century sensitometry studies. The Zone System provides photographers with a systematic method of precisely defining the relationship between the way they visualize the photographic subject and the final results. Although it originated with black-and-white sheet film, the Zone System is also applicable to roll film, both black-and-white and color, negative and reversal, and to digital photography. Joel taught the process of making this work. It’s going to take some practice.

We photographed in the mountains around Flagstaff…

as well as in town at the Pioneer Musium on Highway 180 and a little downtown.

If you are looking to up your game in the black and white genre this is the workshop for you. I had fun meeting some great participants and photographing in my hometown. It’s funny how little we do that.

Happy Shooting!

AHPS, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Cultural, Historic Buildings, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Summer, Travel, Weather

Chasing Monsoons with Arizona Highways PhotoScapes

October 7, 2020 Vicki Uthe 2 Comments

It was a good idea. As long as I can remember, and I’ve lived in Arizona since 1971, the monsoon season has arrived right on schedule. It generally begins when we get a consistent dew point in the 50’s and runs from about mid-July through August, give or take a couple of weeks. As the afternoons heat up the thunderheads begin to build and they can pop up anywhere. It’s not like a storm you can track from California. When I first attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff I could set my watch to the daily afternoon showers and thunderstorms. But with climate change, last year’s monsoon season was dubbed a non-soon. Much like 2020.

It was scheduled as a four-day workshop. The idea was that we’d convene at 9:00 in the classroom, learn about weather patterns, how to read weather apps and radar, learn where to go for the storms that just pop up in the hot Arizona afternoons, and be ready to load the vans and head in any direction from Phoenix, located in the center of the state. Thursday wound up being a tough day with a classroom full of excited photographers and nowhere to go.

It was decided that the next day we’d head in the direction of a historically rich corridor of monsoon activity, interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson.

We had class from 9-12, lunch from 12-1, then we headed to Tucson. With no storms forming, we photographed the Mission San Xavier del Bac. It’s always a good choice for people with cameras.

It’s crazy to think of the lives, people and stories that have wandered these grounds over the centuries.

To think of the folks who have sat in these pews and prayed.

A storm cell popped up around Benson, south of Tucson. By the time we got there, this was all there was. It had mostly dissipated as quickly as it had formed. We shot until sunset then grabbed some food and headed back to Phoenix. We got back to the classroom at 11:30.

Saturday was a similar situation. We headed south of Phoenix but this time only went as far as Florence. No storms popped up on the radar…ANYWHERE, so we photographed the desert. Again we were out until 11:00.

Sunday we spent half the day in the classroom doing photo critiques with what we DID shoot and dismissed.

Again, the idea was a good one, too bad the weather didn’t cooperate. Highways has since taken this workshop off the schedule, for obvious reasons. Maybe someday, when weather patterns settle down, we can get back to it. I still learned a lot about weather and photographing storms. They can be dangerous for you and your gear so keep a safe distance from lightning and have rain gear for you AND your camera always ready.

Stay safe out there and Happy Shooting!

Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Travel, Uncategorized

Slot Canyons and the Colorado Plateau

September 30, 2020 Vicki Uthe 2 Comments

As we enter the 2019 Arizona Highways PhotoScapes Workshops season I find myself on the slot canyon trip for the second time in my career there. The participants on this trip were remarkable and super fun as we navigated some new experiences together. I was fortunate enough to co-guide this workshop with Rick Jacobi, one of my all-time favorite people at Highways.

We picked up our folks in Phoenix on a Saturday morning in March and headed to Page, AZ, the launchpad for our five-day adventure. We drove through Flagstaff and stopped for lunch in Cameron at the famous historic trading post.

Upon arriving in Page we had an introductory classroom session before heading off to our evening shoot at the Old Paria Townsite. It’s not quite what I had imagined but beautiful nonetheless. I was hoping for old buildings. Nope. There was an interpretive sign describing what used to be there and some beautiful scenery but no buildings.

There was a cool fence. Not sure it was historic or added later by BLM folks.

The color in the rock at that time of day was stunning.

Due to a late evening (we got back to the hotel around 10:30 following dinner) we slept in instead of doing the sunset shoot and prepared ourselves for our first slot canyon called Secret Canyon. You need a guide as it is on private land and requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle that does well in sand.

You could run the argument that once you’ve seen one slot canyon you’ve seen them all. I would have to disagree. Each one has such unique curves, lines, colors, and patterns that set them apart.

Switching into black and white helps focus on the lines and patterns.

You could spend an entire day in just one section of any of these canyons and see different colors and shadows as the sun passes overhead.

Our evening shoot turned into its own adventure as we managed to get both vans stuck in the sand on our way to Stud Horse Point overlooking Highway 89 and Lake Powell. With the help of a well-equipped off-road camper, we managed to get back to Page just in time for dinner and bed.

Monday morning we again slept in and had time to process images. Our mid-day shoot took us to Canyon X, so-called because of the X you see at a certain point in the canyon as you look up.

It could have just as easily been named Heart Canyon or Feather Canyon.

The glow from the reflective light is awe-inspiring.

It could also be called Glow Canyon.

Monday afternoon we spent showing our images and critiquing them which is one of the best things about these workshops, learning how to improve a shot you thought you NAILED!

Tuesday morning found us at the now famed Horseshoe Bend. This once dirt parking lot and trail is now a pay lot with porta-potties and a paved trail with shaded benches to the rim with railing. It’s become quite popular.

Our evening shoot found us at Toadstools, a less than a mile hike back to some pretty cool hoodoos.

Wednesday morning we went to a pull out at “Little Cut” to shoot the “Teepees” at first light. They are beautiful. As much as I had been to Page in the last 30 years it took shooting with Highways to find this spectacular location. We always just drove right past and headed to the lake!

I love this region of the State and am always happy to share it with newcomers.

As a quick plug for myself, please remember that if you see an image you like you can let me know and order it to hang on your wall or in notecard form. 😉

Happy Shooting!

AHPS, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Travel, Water, Wood

Crater Lake and Central Oregon

September 23, 2020 Vicki Uthe 2 Comments

Arizona Highways PhotoScapes ran a photo workshop in Oregon in August of 2018 with photographer Shane McDermott who I have had the good fortune of working with in the past. We had seven participants sign up for this adventure which made me the only volunteer. It worked out fine as a couple of the folks drove themselves so there was plenty of room in the 15 passenger van.

It was a five-day workshop that ran from Saturday to Wednesday. We flew in and out of Bend, OR which is also where the workshop began photographing Smith Rock State Park and surrounding area for the weekend.

On Monday we headed to Crater Lake. The challenge in August of 2018 was the haze of raging wildfires in Northern California whose smoke was pouring across the border and causing less than clear skies in both Bend and Crater Lake.

Bend is a city with a population a little larger than my hometown of Flagstaff. Flag is around 75,000 and Bend around 100,000. The big difference? The Deschutes River runs right through the center of town in Bend.

Now for the workshop, and how it unfolded. Getting to Bend was an adventure in itself. I flew out of Phoenix and had a 6:30 pm departure time. However, there were big dust storms in the area so the plane didn’t take off until 11:00. I made it to my hotel in Bend by 2:00 am! The next morning I met Shane in the lobby and we headed to Crater Lake to scout. I’m glad we went on Friday because the air was pretty clear. All the smoke was setting off on the horizon much like the marine layer sits offshore, waiting to pounce.

Here’s the difference a day or two makes. And sometimes the difference just a few hours makes!

There is not always time on a workshop to scout with the photographer the day before. In this case, I was super glad it worked out in order to enjoy the blue of the lake and skies. Shooting this scene is a little bit like photographing Grand Canyon though. The pictures can not capture the scope and size of this magnificent lake.

The next day we met our participants, had breakfast, engaged in a presentation from Shane, loaded lunch into a cooler, and headed out to Smith Rock State Park around 10 am.

We wandered around and learned about lighting. Shooting mid-day is not ideal so we had a picnic lunch before heading back to the hotel. Sunday morning we came back here and photographed in beautiful light all morning.

Saturday’s afternoon/evening shoot was at Sparks Lake. We had picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner in the field. Doing that gave us a lot of time to photograph and less time sitting in a restaurant waiting for food.

Sunday morning, after our morning shoot at Smith Rock State Park, we headed to downtown Bend for lunch and photographing along the river. The smoke was settling in so we didn’t spend much time there and headed to Tumalo Falls for about three hours where we had another picnic dinner.

Smoky conditions kind of forces one to look at details in order to have images without a lot of haze.

You can see the haze in the distant shots. I was able to have plenty of time to practice long exposures for those silky water shots.

We went back to Bend for one more night at the hotel before heading to Crater Lake lodge Monday morning after another spectacular morning shooting at Smith Rock State Park. It’s so nice to hit a spot several times, especially after having image critiques during the day and getting different ideas from the talented photographers that attend our trips. That is one of my favorite things about these workshops; seeing the same place through so many different lenses. It’s really pretty cool.

So now it’s Monday mid-day and we are having a picnic at Crater Lake. As the afternoon sets in so does the smoke and the lake pretty much disappears. Shane takes us to an amazing spot that is listed as a wildflower walk. It was beautiful and easier to shoot close-ups to avoid smoke haze.

Heading off on the little wildflower hike with our fearless leader.

August was a great time to catch wildflowers in bloom.

Vidae Falls is a long meandering waterfall. This is the bottom of the falls. That large rock is about the size of both my fists. It’s not quite as spectacular as Tumalo Falls but good practice nonetheless.

Tuesday morning we spent driving the rim and photographing the lake.

The smoke added an eery feeling to the sunrise. You know it’s thick when you can look right at the sun and not even squint.

I got some great silhouettes as our photographers attempted to capture images of the lake.

I grew tired of the expanse of lake covered in smoke so I turned my attention to other things. The trees in the area were amazing. They reminded me of alien tentacles. The one below looks like it’s going out for a run!

We kept driving by these poles all over the park. Apparently, they are snow poles so you can see where the road is when it snows! Imagine that much snow!! Hence why the park closes for winter.

Faces were everywhere.

This tree looked like it was growing a fur coat for winter. One side had dark hairy looking moss and the other side bright green.

In this area of the park orange and white pumice were everywhere. It’s always interesting to me to see where plants take root.

Tuesday afternoon/evening we headed out of the park and out into the forest to try to get below the smoke. Crater Lake National Park is at 7,100 feet above sea level. So we headed out and down in search of Toketee Falls, about an hour away. Toketee is a Chinook word meaning Graceful. The irony in this choice of names is that the falls were named long before the hydroelectric system was in place, and the full volume of water of the North Umpqua River was allowed to flow over the falls in a much less graceful and much more explosive manner.

Toketee Falls is one of the most famous waterfalls in all of Oregon, renowned far and wide for the graceful columnar basalt formation framing the two-stepped falls. The North Umpqua River has carved a sinuous gorge out of the lava flow, resulting in a waterfall of 113 feet in height, a 28-foot upper tier which plunges into a pool flanked by a deep alcove, followed by an 85-foot plunge into a large pool. At the trailhead, the wooden 12-foot diameter Toketee Pipeline is passed, which diverts much of the volume of the North Umpqua River to a powerhouse downstream. This artificial taming of the river allows the waterfall to flow in an extremely consistent manner all year long.

The trail up to this waterfall was strenuous in its steps but a very well maintained trail and easy to maneuver on and set up tripods. The waterfall at the end was worth the hike and for those who didn’t make it, there were plenty of moving water opportunities along the way.

Wednesday morning found us packed and ready to head back to Bend and say goodbye. We hit Watchman overlook on the way out of the park and were on the road by 10:30 am. It was a spectacular workshop led by Shane who did an amazing job of providing excellent shooting opportunities under less than perfect conditions. Such is the life of a photographer. We are always waiting for light or weather conditions to cooperate, aren’t we?

Look for this one if it ever comes up again with Arizona Highways PhotoScapes. You won’t be sorry you went.

Happy Shooting!!

AHPS, Animals, Animals, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Outdoors, Places to Shoot, Shooting Close to Home, Travel, Uncategorized, Water, Winter

Watson Lake in Winter

September 9, 2020 Vicki Uthe 7 Comments

Watson Lake is one of two reservoirs at the Granite Dells, in Prescott, Arizona, that was formed in the early 1900s when the Chino Valley Irrigation District built a dam on Granite Creek. The City of Prescott bought the reservoir and surrounding land in 1997 to preserve it as recreational land. Local rock climbers use the granite cliffs above and adjacent to the lake for top-roping and lead climbing. The lake is also the home of TriCity Prep Rowing Crew, a local high school team and only rowing team in Northern Arizona. Who knew?

Arizona Highways PhotoScapes runs this workshop in January in order to be able to photograph the sunrise. The park opens year-round at 7:00 am. In the summer we would miss the sunrise. And, we get the lake pretty much to ourselves in winter as most visitors take advantage of the lake in warmer months.

It’s a beautiful lake and I’ve paddled on it before. Not in the winter though so I was looking forward to hanging out in Prescott for a couple of days with our photographer Amy Horn and our amazing participants. Even though shooting landscapes isn’t my jam I did manage to find some patterns and scenes that interested and inspired me.

While everyone else was photographing the lake I turned my attention to the nearby grasses.

Winter hours have the park closing at 6:00 pm which is plenty of time to catch the sunset without having to stay out too late.

Apparently in winter humans come to the lake regularly to feed the waterfowl that live there. This was the highlight of my shoot. It was sheer chaos with Canada Geese, swans, ducks of several sorts and American Coot vying for the feed.

This is a great lake in any season.

Happy shooting!

AHPS, Animals, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Shooting Close to Home

Wildlife World Zoo, Phoenix

September 2, 2020 Vicki Uthe 4 Comments

If you like to shoot animals, I mean photograph them, there is a great little zoo on the west side of the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix), just off the 303, called Wildlife World Zoo. As a former first grade teacher, we took our students there every spring to see the animals they had been studying during the last quarter of school. They loved it.

In these times of COVID, it’s a great zoo for camera buffs (if you like zoos, but that’s another conversation) because the animals are quite close.

Some wander the grounds. Just kidding, the little alligator is in an enclosure.

You can buy feed and present it to the giraffes at their feeding station.

As you walk through the Down Under enclosure the kangaroos and wallabies are literally just behind a single rope fence.

There are a tram ride and a train ride that take you into enclosures. I’m not gonna lie, it’s a little Jurrasic Parkish. The animals in these enclosures could come right up to the vehicles. I’ve had the tram driver have to shoe away the ostriches before.

The big cats are in enclosures…of course.

The monkeys have various islands throughout the park.

Some very interesting reptiles…

And birds. Lots of birds. Some are free-roaming in the park or in enclosures and some are in cages.

As a photo workshop, we had access to a private bird show which was pretty cool. Their macaw population largely comes from private owners who either got them as a pet and realized they couldn’t t or didn’t want to take care of a perpetual toddler OR the bird outlived the owner.

The flamingo exhibit right at the front entrance provides for some great reflection images.

There is a walk-through aviary with some pretty exotic birds in it.

So regal.

Who doesn’t like a happy ostrich?

Yikes!

The ducks are free to come and go. They know when they have a good thing.

Look for this workshop with Amy Horn at Arizona Highways Photoscapes. She ran this one and it was great. It is a COVID safe one as you would drive yourself there, get excellent instruction, and be able to easily social distance. I’m not sure when it will show up again on the calendar but it is definitely one to look for.

Happy Shooting!!

Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Travel, Uncategorized

White Sands National Park

August 26, 2020 Vicki Uthe 5 Comments

In September of 2017, I got to volunteer on a workshop to White Sands National Park with two of my favorite people: Suzanne Mathia, our photographer, and Becky Chapman, my co-volunteer.

We met Suzanne in Alamogordo, NM. Becky and I traveled together and flew from Phoenix to El Paso where we picked up our vans, collected water and snacks for the week, and checked into our hotel, all before noon on Wednesday. That gave us the afternoon to grab some good Mexican cuisine and photograph El Paso. I don’t really have an explanation for the images so just enjoy…

El Paso and Juarez are sister cities. Also, I had NO IDEA Fort Bliss was in El Paso.

Thursday morning we picked up a few of the 12 participants and headed to Alamogordo, NM to begin the workshop at the hotel at 10:00 am. Following lunch, we drove out to the dunes.

We spent the next two days (Friday and Saturday) shooting at different locations around the park. We hit it early around sunrise and late afternoon into the evening. It was HOT.

It looks like snow but it was hot. It was very stark and very white. The sand is crushed gypsum.

Don’t even know how a mushroom grew here.

Improvising to be able to see the screen on the back of her camera.

See the rainbow?!? It is really special to be out here and get storm clouds. That didn’t happen for us.

Saturday was supposed to be a hot air balloon festival. Colorful balloons floating over white dunes…spectacular. But it was too windy. I had to settle for this kite.

Keep an eye out! Desert or not, there IS life!

I was amazed at how many seeds these Yucca pods held.

Question of the day: With not a tree in sight…where on EARTH did this leaf come from??

Keeping the roads clear of sand, it’s a thing. Snowplow turned sand plow?

Probably my favorite image of the trip (landscape wise at least).

I think these two images show the desolation. People have actually perished out here, and not far from the visitor center. They couldn’t see it and didn’t know what direction to go. So sad. In every direction you turn, it looks the same. It’s easy to get lost out here. Luckily Suzanne has been here a LOT and gave us some tools to stay unlost. Also, as the people responsible for not losing participants, it was a challenge keeping a headcount. The only folks you could see were the ones on top of the dunes. If individuals were walking between the dunes we’d lose sight of them.

Reminds me of The Flintstones.

By September of 2017, I had been working with Highways for three and a half years. In collecting images over the past couple of months for these posts I’ve noticed something. I don’t spend as much time deciding what images to post. Apparently, I had gotten MUCH better at color coding and assigning attributes in Lightroom to my images which, years later, helps cut down the sorting time it takes to find the best images for a particular shoot. Way to go ME! I think from here on out I can spend more time writing and less time searching for the best images.

I hope you enjoyed the photos and insight!

Happy Shooting!

Adventure, AHPS, Animals, Animals, Architecture, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Boating, Cultural, Flowers, Historic Buildings, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Travel

Vancouver Island, B.C.

August 19, 2020 Vicki Uthe 5 Comments

In June of 2017, I went on a dream come true workshop…Vancouver Island. A dream come true workshop for me includes a perfect mixture of urban and nature shooting opportunities. The workshop was run over six glorious days with a really fun group of participants. The photographer, Shane McDermott, grew up on the island so he was wonderful to follow around.

Here’s one way I could tell I was extremely inspired on this trip, I squeezed the shutter over 3100 times. Over twice from any other workshop. It still remains the highest number of images I’ve taken in my career with PhotoScapes (except for the Albuquerque balloon festival last year but that’s another story).

We arrived in Vancouver (the city) on a Saturday in June. “We” included two participants that happened to be on the same flight and Megan, my fellow volunteer. My good friend Amy Horn was already there. Megan and I had some volunteer errands to run before we hooked up with Amy, and the two participants we knew and headed out to explore the city. It was suggested we head to Stanley Park and Granville Island, so we did.

Seriously, I was like a kid in a candy shop. We walked and talked and laughed and I kept having to run to catch up because everything caught my eye. And the workshop hadn’t even STARTED yet!

The next morning we took the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island. I think I FINALLY got the difference between the two! LOL!

The morning fog was beautiful.

The workshop began for Shane at 2:00 pm in our hotel in Victoria. For the volunteers and participants, it began with breakfast Sunday morning, rounding everyone up and getting them to the ferry then to our hotel. After introductions and an overview, we headed out to the inner harbor to photograph. Victoria is such a beautiful city.

I could shoot boats all day long.

The Parliament Building was amazing.

Growing up in Arizona and having spent my entire adult life in Flagstaff I am used to the art and culture of Navajo and Hopi first nations people. It was SO much fun to be exposed to those of the northwest. I was especially enthralled with the totem poles.

The Inner Harbor also boasted fun tattoos and cool floating homes.

The rain was a constant companion and made for some beautiful images.

The next day, after a morning shoot at Beacon Hill Park, we headed to world-renowned Butchart Gardens. It did not disappoint. Be sure to plan a full day for this venture, especially if you plan to photograph. We allotted four hours and in that time many folks never got past one or two of the gardens! I wandered all the way to the back and found the ocean and more boats!

Another tip would be to arrive, walk the entire property then go back to the gardens you feel most inspired by. Don’t get sucked into the first ones. Not that they are not beautiful but there is so much more!

Tuesday morning, following our third trip to the Inner Harbor, we loaded the vans and headed to Port Renfrew a couple of hours up the coast. On the way, we stopped by Royal Roads University and photographed the grounds there. It was beautiful. Royal Roads University is located on the grounds of the former Royal Roads Military College (RRMC) at Hatley Park National Historic Site on Vancouver Island. Following the decommissioning of RRMC in 1995, the government of British Columbia created Royal Roads University as a public university.

The coastline of British Columbia stretches approximately 27,000 km, including countless islands, bays, inlets, and arms. Port Renfrew is the last step into this remote area. Considered the “Jewel of the West Coast” and the “Tall Tree Capital of Canada”. Port Renfrew is the southern entrance to the Pacific Rim National Park and the world-renown “shipwreck life-saving trail” now called “The West Coast Trail”, and the beginning of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail.

Yes, we stayed n these cabins. Check out the low tide.

We spent Tuesday afternoon, all day Wednesday and Thursday morning exploring this wild area. My favorite part was our walks along the coast.

We drove back to Victoria on Thursday afternoon. Friday was a big day. We had our final classroom session before heading to the dock and our whale watching tour. The tour finished at 1:00 and by that evening I was visiting family in Northern California. Here’s what we saw on the whale tour.

We each had to wear these survival suits. They were really hot but would save our lives should we end up in the ocean.

Ocean-going tankers and whale collisions is a real problem.

Another tour boat.

If you ever get the chance to visit British Columbia I highly recommend it. SUCH a beautiful place. I hope you enjoyed the tour, I’d do it again in a heart-beat.

Until next time, Happy Shooting!

AHPS, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Historic Buildings, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Photography, Places to Shoot, Travel

Vermillion Cliffs

August 5, 2020 Vicki Uthe 3 Comments

My third Women’s Photo Retreat was located in one of my favorite areas in Arizona, if not the planet. The workshop was called Vermillion Cliffs but in reality, we shot much of the workshop in the Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area at Lee’s Ferry. Here’s how it went down.

Again we had a bus with an amazing female bus driver who was herself an artist. She liked to create her pencil drawings with broken pencils she found in her wanderings. Pretty cool stuff. Anyway, since we were on a bus I was able to be picked up in Flagstaff before we headed north to the Arizona Strip, that piece of land between Grand Canyon and Utah where very few people live.

From Flagstaff, we stopped at the Cameron Trading Post for their world-famous Navajo Tacos. I can’t remember if we went straight to the hotel or not to check-in but either way, my journal says we spent from 3-6pm photographing Navajo Bridge, Lee’s Ferry, and the Paria Riffle, the first little rough water on a Colorado River trip through Grand Canyon. Lee’s Ferry is the launching point for such trips, commercial and private alike.

Navajo Bridge is the name of each of a pair of steel spandrel arch bridges that cross the Colorado River near Lees Ferry in northern Arizona. There are two bridges. The newer bridge carries vehicular traffic on US 89A over Marble Canyon between southern Utah and the Arizona Strip.

Prior to completion of the first Navajo Bridge, one of the only Colorado River crossings between Arizona and Utah was located about 5 miles upstream, at the mouth of Glen Canyon where Lee’s Ferry service had operated since 1873. The ferry site had been chosen as the only relatively easy access to the river for both northbound and southbound travelers. By the 1920s, automobile traffic began using the ferry service though it was not considered a safe and reliable crossing as adverse weather and flooding regularly prevented its operation.

The original bridge was dedicated on June 14–15, 1929 with an official name of Grand Canyon Bridge. in 1934 The state changed the name to Navajo Bridge. After the new bridge opened in 1995, the original bridge was closed to vehicle traffic but remained opened to foot traffic.

The endangered California condor has been re-introduced into this region recently due to its remote location and lack of human habitation and can often be seen roosting on the bridge’s metal parts.

Lee’s Ferry initially served as a military outpost for 19th-century settlements in Utah, a center of limited gold-seeking, and since the 1920s, the principal point at which river flow is measured to determine water allocations in the 246,000-square-mile Colorado River basin. Lees Ferry demarcates the boundary between the Upper and Lower Basins of the Colorado River; the states which make up each basin are legally allocated one-half of the river’s natural flow. Glen Canyon Dam impounds the Colorado River a short distance upstream and completely regulates the river flow past Lees Ferry.

Saturday morning we woke up early to catch the sun rising on the Vermillion Cliffs from the boat ramp at Lee’s Ferry. To our delight, we ran into the legendary photographer Gary Ladd shooting at our same location! He’s been published in Arizona Highways Magazine numerous times and instructs for us in workshops as well.

To the right, you can see some blue rafts. These private boaters packed the night before and launched later that morning.

On our way back to the hotel for breakfast, we strolled down this road to the Lonely Dell Ranch. Lee was a practicing polygamist who built cabins for two of his families at Lee’s Ferry, in what became known as “Lonely Dell”. Lee’s ferry started service on January 11, 1873, ferrying Mormon settlers across the river. Tensions rose between the settlers and the Navajo, whose lands were being occupied by the settlers, resulting in the construction of the Lee’s Ferry Fort at the crossing in 1874. No conflict arose at the ferry, so the fort became a trading post, then a residence. In 1877 Lee was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre. In 1879, the LDS Church bought the ferry rights from Emma Lee, granting the ferry service to Warren Marshall Johnson and his families. A number of structures remain in the district from the polygamist period of the Lee and Johnson families.

Here we are having breakfast with Gary. He ran out to his car, grabbed some books, signed them, and sold them. He’s a great storyteller and was fun to hang out with.

Following breakfast, we had some downtime to download and edit our images. We then met at the house we, (the photographer, other photoguide, and myself), were staying in and had lessons and critiques before heading out to our sunset shoot along highway 89 leading out of the valley we were in.

The next morning we drove across down 89 and turned onto Badger Creek Road. From here we photographed the wide-open spaces and distant storms.

On the way back we stopped at an old trading post built into the rocks near our hotel at Cliff Dwellers Lodge.

The erosion of sandstone formations leaves crevices, caves, and overhangs with which to build. Over time, travelers and residents found creative ways to use these natural features as temporary or permanent shelter. Around 1927, Blanche Russell’s car broke down as she traveled through this area. Forced to camp overnight, she decided she liked the scenery so well that she bought the property and stayed. The stone buildings under these balanced sandstone rocks were built shortly after that in 1930. I believed she ran it as a trading post of sorts. A place for travelers to stop, purchase provisions, and rest.

I like pebbles.

And so concludes a jam-packed three-day women’s retreat in Northern Arizona. Following the morning shoot, we headed back for breakfast before packing, loading the bus, and driving down 89 toward Flagstaff. After they dropped me off at the gas station near my home they headed down interstate 17 to phoenix, I’m sure reminiscing about fun memories just created and those of past women’s trips. What a fun group!

If you are interested in future women’s retreats go to Arizona Highways PhotoScapes website and look up Amy Horn. She is the current photographer leading these trips and she is amazing. Not sure what it will look like in the coming year or two with COVID-19 on the rampage but something to keep in mind nonetheless.

Until next week…Happy Shooting!

AHPS, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Historic Buildings, Nature, Outdoors, People, Photo Workshops, Photography, Places to Shoot, Travel

Best of the West…truly.

July 29, 2020 Vicki Uthe 4 Comments

In May of 2016, I landed the mack daddy of trips…Best of the West. This epic journey, and yes, I use that term a LOT with these workshops, had truly set the bar for me for locations and people I got to meet and spend time with. This adventure was seven days long, began, for me, in Sedona and ended with the bus dropping me off at my home in Flagstaff. We had 14 participants, two photo guides, our photographer/instructor, and a bus driver.

Unlike the Oregon Sampler, we photo guides did not have to drive. That allowed us more time to get to know our clients. And what an amazing group.

Here’s a sampling of who I met: an eyewitness to 9/11, a guy who served two years in the Egyptian military, a WWII vet from the battle of Okinawa, a guy who survived a broken neck from an avalanche, a father and son team, a lawyer from Peru, a stroke survivor, an anesthesiologist, a urologist, an avid runner with a double knee replacement, another person from Manhatten and a couple of friends from Washington State. Not to mention my amazing co-guide, photographer, and bus driver. I fell in love with them all while spending seven days on a bus and over 650 miles, sharing amazing locations and many meals together. The participants drove over 900 miles as their workshop began in Phoenix.

As I said, I joined the party in Sedona where my wife dropped me off at the hotel. The shooting locations were as follows: Sedona, Grand Canyon South Rim, Page, Monument Valley, and Canyon de Chelley. We spent one night in each location, except for Page where we spent two. We photographed sunset at each new location and then sunrise the next morning before heading off to our next destination. As of this trip I had never been to Monument Valley. Go, it’s beautiful. All of the other places are among my favorites on earth.

It doesn’t matter how many times I go to Sedona, a quick 30-minute drive from my home, I am amazed at its beauty. This was our initial afternoon/sunset shoot.

The next morning we hit Airport Mesa for sunrise and were treated with some hot air balloons in the distance.

Before heading to Grand Canyon we dropped into Slide Rock State Park for some water action.

The grand landscapes easily draw people’s attention but don’t forget to look at the details.

Speaking of grand landscapes, I find this one particularly difficult to shoot. Capturing what I’m truly seeing and feeling at Grand Canyon seems an impossible task.

Putting people in images helps show perspective and scale.

Thank goodness for Desert View Tower! Nothing like a good man-made object on the edge of a natural wonder to help capture what you’re seeing and feeling.

One can pretty much count on an elk encounter at the South Rim. They don’t ever seem too bothered by us humans.

After two nights on the road in two different hotels we headed to Page, a town built so Glenn Canyon Dam workers back in the 1950s and ’60s had a place to call home.

Our first stop was Toadstools. Here’s a cool thing about this trip. As you can see, we are visiting places I have already been to on previous workshops, the women’s retreat in Sedona and now Page. In a couple of days, I’ll get to revisit Canyon de Chelley! It’s nice to return to a location and see it through different eyes (the participants) and hear the instruction from different photographers.

Headlamps were a must on this excursion as I had my first lesson in light painting. It’s a thing where you set up your camera on a tripod, open up the aperture (2.8), and set the shutter speed to 30 seconds. Once it’s open you take a flashlight and do brief flashes onto the subject, in this case, the rock. After you see what you got you either say Yay! or make adjustments and shoot again. It turned out kinda cool.

The next morning was sunrise at Little Cut then off to Antelope Canyon. These are places I don’t seem to get tired of visiting.

It was a big day so we didn’t do a sunset shoot. We had a critique instead. People were given time to download images and edit them. They then gave us three or so images to project onto a screen and talk about. It’s really great to see everyone’s images.

Sunrise the next morning was Horseshoe Bend. This place has become crazy popular. It now has a paved, pay parking lot and safety rails at the rim.

Black and white can be a good choice if you can’t quite get the colors right.

On the way to Monument Valley, you have to drive through Kayenta. Just outside of Kayenta is Agathla Peak which rises over 1500 feet above the surrounding terrain. The mountain is considered sacred by the Navajo.

Agathla Peak is an eroded volcanic plug consisting of volcanic breccia cut by dikes of an unusual igneous rock called Minette. It is one of many such volcanic diatremes that are found in Navajo country. Agathla Peak and Shiprock in New Mexico are the most prominent. These rocks are part of the Navajo Volcanic Field, in the southern Colorado Plateau.

Our hotel in Monument Valley was Goulding’s Lodge. The building was constructed in 1928. The lodge originally served as a trading post and home for the Goulding’s. During the great depression, John Ford was looking for a site to film his movie Stagecoach. Goulding heard of this and immediately went to work capturing photos of Monument Valley to send to John Ford. Ford ended up shooting the film in Monument Valley and came back to produce more, popularizing the area.

Our afternoon/sunset shoot at the famous mittens.

The next morning we did an early morning truck tour.

One of the stops was John Ford Point. We were lucky enough to arrive and have a model out at the point on his horse.

I followed him as he came off the point. I have no idea how long he and his horse had been out there, standing, gazing at the amazing beauty. Turns out he’s a third-grader from Flagstaff!! He was out on the Rez visiting his cousin.

The local cafe was not yet open.

From Monument Valley, we headed over to Chinle and Canyon de Chelley.

Here is an example of turning a photo into a monochrome. I wasn’t happy with the colors of the one above. I think black and white is much more dramatic.

Our visit to Canyon de Chelley allowed for a sunset and a sunrise shoot. We did not have time to enter the canyons as we did on the five-day Canyon de Chelley workshop the previous year.