One of the selling points that Rick used on me for this trip (not that he had to) was that if I loved Death Valley (which I did), I'd like this better. Especially because the trip would be more isolated and we'd see less people.
Not at Zion. The place was packed. I'd estimate that 10% of the populations of France, Germany and Japan were at Zion this Saturday (May 15). Throw in a couple of Americans, and it was clear that it was a very busy, very popular, very multicultural spot! The road to the valley was closed to car traffic (as of April 1), so the only way we would be able to participate would be via tour buses. No way—we had a date with Bryce, and we didn't have the time.
Who's the pink guy? This is my daughter's Domo (valentine edition). I promised to take Domo sightseeing on this trip seeing that Grace couldn't come (because she's missed about a million school days for dog shows this year). This is Domo overlooking the park. Scenic? You bet!
This is a record shot of a great big honking rock. I wasn't sure if I'd see anymore as impressive as this during my trip, so I made sure to snap it. Foolish, naive Jim…
There's a very pretty bridge in Zion, with a nice stream rushing through. I did not get my feet wet at all this trip (unless you count blood at Antelope Canyon, but that's for another post). I worked this view with the 50-150, but I returned to my 10-20 for this shot. I bought the 10-20 on a whim—I had never really done wide angle work before Death Valley, and didn't know if I'd like the lens (and the perspective), but I thought I'd give it a try. It's now a favorite, and I really like this shot, even if it's too busy to print (and the perspective makes the peaks in back a little too small). Would have loved to have blurred the water, but would have needed an ISO 4 settting to do so.
A real photo here. This is a B/W conversion of a slope that had a trickle of water going down to a pool. Rick and I pulled over to do some shooting here as we were driving out. This is before the tunnel.
Another view of the same area. I could have made a much stronger photo if I had a 16-20" chain saw with me. Sigma, please put that on your product list.
An image of an old log (again with the 10-20). This works quite well in B/W.
And finally, the obligatory cactus shot. This is actually one of my best ones (and you'll see several attempts in the posts to come). Domo shows the appropriate amount of emotion for being stuffed into this shot! Seriously, the areas that we frequented on this trip were all in bloom, and I saw dozens of different wildflowers (including six or seven different cactus flowers). The diversity and beauty of the areas we visited were incredible, and it's really hard to capture this in totality with photos. But hey, we try anyway!
So that ends the Zion series. Now, on to Bryce!