Water Front - Post Processed

Some more pictures from my Monterey trip.

Spent a little more time to tweak them, to add a some "mood".

Random Thoughts

I found some nice photoblogs today. Went through several of them, and their archives. Nice. I'll post some of them when I figure out which ones I like the most. Photos below are inspired by some of the sites.

Antelope Canyon

We had a chance to visit the Antelope Canyon by Page, AZ last October. I feel very fortunate to have visited this place, and a place I want to go back to when I get a chance - being only 2 hours drive for us, that's something that will most likely to happen again, :). There are 2 canyons, upper and lower. We went to the upper canyon tour, lasts about 1 1/2 hours long.

If you have a chance to go there, here are something that I have learned:
1 - Only guided tours are allowed. But don't worry, there are plenty of operations in town, which by the way, also creates a small traffic jam (of people in the canyon) due to # of these tours that are in operation.
2 - Bring a tripod. It is fairly dark in the canyon, so steady the camera. I tend to press down on the camera when it is mounted on the tripod, to give it a better steadiness, but be careful, the sand below is usually very loose, so you may be sinking the tripod further, therefore cause movement. Bring cable release, or put your camera on a short 2 second timer to avoid additional shake. Bring a flash light might be helpful, to see the buttons on your camera in the dark.
3 - Look out for the falling sand! On a windy day, a lot of sand will fall from top of the canyon, my camera was covered in sand after this visit. So if you can some how protect it, some people wrap their camera in plastic bag, which does help.
4 - July to August is the raining season in this part of the world. So your might want to schedule your trip accordingly. 12 people drowned back in the 90's due to flash flood, which I believe is another reason only guided tour is allowed.
5 - Don't use flash, it will have a "snow flake" effect with the falling sand from top of the canyon, not pretty.

I got lucky with the picture above, no one was in the way, which is not always easy. But I think having people in the shot is also kind of neat. Due to cloudy day, I didn't get the "light tunnel" effect that you may have seen. I believe the best time for that type of shots is to go around noon, where the sun is right above the opening of the canyon.

There're a lot to visit around Page. Glenn Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Colorado River tour, not far from Grand Canyon-North Rim, 2 hours from Zion National Park, plus much much more.

Snowbird Ski Resort

I am not much of a skier, but had the opportunity to ride the gondola to the top to take some pictures. Nice view, sunny but cold.

I am on top of the world!

Air time.

Rescue Dogs

These are working dogs - belongs to Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, avalanche rescue dogs. We rode the gondola down together at the Snowbird Ski Resort. I can't remember their names, but the German Shepard is about 11 years old, and he looked tired with a limp. The other 2 are more energetic, probably rather run down the mountain than ride the gondola.

Bryce Canyon

What a place, I wish we had more time to hit the trails. Some of the trails are covered with snow, so probably not very safe at this time.
We will definitely return to this place, and also take time to check out Zion, which is only 4 hours away from Flagstaff. Nice drive, too.

I think the snow really added more drama.

Red Canyon

On the way back from Salt Lake City, we visited Bryce Canyon. Right at the exit off of highway 89 towards Bryce, is the beautiful Red Canyon (we thought that was Bryce Canyon from the highway, but it was actually another 15 miles away). These were shot during mid day, around 2 PM. The colors were gorgeous, I wish we had time to explore a little. But with a long drive ahead, we continued on to Bryce.

Shot with Nikon D70 with 80-200mm.

Salt Lake City - Downtown area

After all day of skiing, my shoulder and knees are feeling the pain. Took a day off to check out the famous tabernacle. Took some shots of the capital building and the Mormon Temple.

All shots were taken with G2. I am very impressed with this little gem. Heck, for 50 bucks, it's super nice!

Salt Lake City - Mountains

I am not a big skier, just skied once prior. My wife on the other hand, loves to ski. We drove up to Salt Lake City to meet up with our friends from Florida. We skied at Alta, it was cloudy and very cold. Unlike my first ski experience (where the slope was icy), this was more snowy, which helped when I crashed a few times, :). Their beginners slope was way too advanced for me, even though little kids were flying past me. Back to bunny slope for me!

Clouds coming in.

Granite walls.

Wildlife alert.

One day of skiing was enough for me. My knees were killing me!

More from CA.

Some more of my favorites.

Play on the beach, but stay out of the frigid water!

Alisomar State Reserve - Conference center. An hour before sunset.

Rocky shore line with pounding waves.

California Dream'n.

Taken south of Point Lobos State Reserve, the coastline is really beautiful. Not something you can swim in, I guess, :).

From an overlook, high above the water.