US National Parks

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Matt.

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I got back from a trip across the US last month, and these are some of the photos i took.

The trip was from Washington, DC to Laguna Beach, CA, 6500 miles, via 16 states, 9 national parks, 4 sports events, 3 state parks, a few cities, and many places in-between.

These are the first edits really as i hate editing photos and it will take me a very long time to do them properly :LOL:

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Storms near Sioux Falls, South Dakota

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The crowds(!) at Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Uath

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Sunrise at Mesa Arch, Island in the Sky, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

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Sunrise in Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona

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Antelope Canyon, Arizona

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Horseshoe Bend, Arizona


Let me know what you think.



[VIMEO]68943841[/VIMEO]
This is the video of the entire trip!
 
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You have to get fairly close to the edge of the 1000ft cliff for the Horseshoe Bend shot :D

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Crowds = not good, not the right time of year.
Nice sky on Horseshoe but too much foreground on Mesa for my liking....sorry!
 
I love them all! The Antelope Canyon one is absolutely stunning, thanks for sharing! :)
 
My wife and I were standing at the very spot you were at Horseshoe Bend and nearly got blown off the cliff. On a picture perfect day and without notice a strong gust of wind hit us from behind and we nearly went over. I pushed my wife to the ground next to the large boulder near the edge and hung on. When we got up to get out I noticed my camera bag was gone. I crawled out and looked down and there is was about 400 feet down on a small ledge. We went into Page, Az., and stopped at the fire station and I told a guy of my lost bag full of equipment. We were lucky to have found the right person on our first stop. He was a trainer in canyon rescue for the fire department. We went back out to the ledge and he went down over the cliff on a couple of ropes and retrieved my equipment. We were impressed how this guy had the nerve to descend down over the face of the cliff. I rewarded him for his efforts because he saved me a lot of money by retrieving my equipment. We have photographed for many years in the Southwest and have hiked hundreds of canyons. We have a new respect for these wonderful and amazing landscapes and never let ourselves forget where we are when captivated by the beauty around us. I enjoy your photos you made. You certainly had a full and eventful trip.
 
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Fantastic set, and and epic trip. Did a similar thing myself 20-odd years ago. Wish I'd been into photography back then!
Would love to see more.
 
4 is the weakest and under exposed.(sunrise one)


Like the stormy skies in one, the the horseshoe bend and the light in three and the whole composition . Somewhere I'd love to go.

The photographers shot in the grandcanyon made me laugh, I've never seen so many togs in one place
 
ST4 said:
4 is the weakest and under exposed.(sunrise one)
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Monument Valley? I was going for silhouettes of the rock formations with that one.

Here's a normal version:
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ST4 said:
The photographers shot in the grandcanyon made me laugh, I've never seen so many togs in one place
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Arches NP is so busy in the summer between the hours of 10am and 5pm. I don't know why, as it's 100f+! Delicate arch is always going to be busy like the photo above if it's good weather, and it's just something you have to deal with. Arches NP is the first place i've been where i've had to ask people to move out of the way to get shots. Everyone was very good about it though :)

I arrived at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands NP (photo 3 above) at ~04:15 two times, and both times wasn't the first person there. It's a busy spot for sunrise. By actual sunrise it was tripod to tripod and upwards of 20 people. The first time i visited there was someone with a huge Kessler Crane timelapse rig right in the middle of the arch :/ It's a fun place to shoot from though, but i can imagine that it could be problematic if everyones not friendly and considerate!
 
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Wow what an amazing trip. Looks like you got plenty of time to devote to the photography as well. As soon as the kids are off our hands I am going to spend their inheritance doing this in a big Winebego. Would love to do this on full frame digital - last time was Fuji slide on 35mm.

I have already been to many of the western parks - Yosemite, Canyonlands, Arches, Zion, Death Valley, Bryce (wondering why did you not go there? http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/willid1/Talk%20Photography/Bryce2.jpg) etc but both trips were Oct/Nov and it was deserted.

We had several people ask us "why are you here now?" well it was blissful to be able to stand at that viewpoint at the Horseshoe Bend and be the only people there.

We did find some snow (especially on the way to Bryce and once there) but it was well worth it. And the sunrise is later as well :D

I would have loved to go to Antelope Canyon but didn't fancy the "herding cattle" tour. And read it can be a bit of a camera killer with the fine sand falling in all the time.

Would love to see more of your photos - do you have them posted somewhere else??

David
 
Willid1 said:
Bryce (wondering why did you not go there? http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/willid1/Talk%20Photography/Bryce2.jpg) etc but both trips were Oct/Nov and it was deserted.
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I've been to Bryce before.

So far I've been to:
- Arches
- Badlands
- Black Canyon of the Gunnison
- Bryce Canyon
- Canyonlands
- Capitol Reef
- Death Valley
- Grand Canyon
- Grand Teton
- Great Sand Dunes
- Joshua Tree
- Mesa Verde
- Rocky Mountain
- Yellowstone
- Yosemite
- Zion

Some other parks as well:
- Custer State Park
- Dead Horse Point State Park
- Gooseneck State Park
- Grand Escalante
- Monument Valley
- Mt Rushmore
- Valley of Fire State Park
 
Matt. said:
Monument Valley? I was going for silhouettes of the rock formations with that one.

Here's a normal version:

Arches NP is so busy in the summer between the hours of 10am and 5pm. I don't know why, as it's 100f+! Delicate arch is always going to be busy like the photo above if it's good weather, and it's just something you have to deal with. Arches NP is the first place i've been where i've had to ask people to move out of the way to get shots. Everyone was very good about it though :)

I arrived at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands NP (photo 3 above) at ~04:15 two times, and both times wasn't the first person there. It's a busy spot for sunrise. By actual sunrise it was tripod to tripod and upwards of 20 people. The first time i visited there was someone with a huge Kessler Crane timelapse rig right in the middle of the arch :/ It's a fun place to shoot from though, but i can imagine that it could be problematic if everyones not friendly and considerate!
Click to expand...

Love the normal version. I doubt I'll get to the states but hope to one day
 
3,5 and 6 are amazing.I like the composition and colours especially.(y)
 
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What a wonderful set! How long was your trip? It's something I'd love to do, before I get too old and end up having to wait for kids to leave home etc.
 
JakeT1992 said:
What a wonderful set! How long was your trip? It's something I'd love to do, before I get too old and end up having to wait for kids to leave home etc.
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It was just less than 4 weeks. Which is massively pushing it for time. I would say it's the bare minimum amount of time for something like this! It's something i've always wanted to do though, and was fine with the rushing around and the days of driving. It's not for everyone though. I had 600mile, 9hr+ driving days...! Amazing fun though, and a great experience. I did a 4,500 mile roadtrip in 2011 that was Yellowstone/Grand Teton/SLC/Capitol Reef/Bryce/Zion/Valley of Fire/Death Valley/Mammoth Lakes/Yosemite/SF/Carmel/SB, and a 2,500 mile Iceland roadtrip last year, so i'm fairly used to it all now :)

Sitting on a beach for weeks is really not for me:LOL:
 
Matt. said:
It was just less than 4 weeks. Which is massively pushing it for time. I would say it's the bare minimum amount of time for something like this! It's something i've always wanted to do though, and was fine with the rushing around and the days of driving. It's not for everyone though. I had 600mile, 9hr+ driving days...! Amazing fun though, and a great experience. I did a 4,500 mile roadtrip in 2011 that was Yellowstone/Grand Teton/SLC/Capitol Reef/Bryce/Zion/Valley of Fire/Death Valley/Mammoth Lakes/Yosemite/SF/Carmel/SB, and a 2,500 mile Iceland roadtrip last year, so i'm fairly used to it all now :)

Sitting on a beach for weeks is really not for me:LOL:
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It's not for me really either! How much does something like this cost to do? Feel free to PM me if you would rather keep it private (y)
 
JakeT1992 said:
It's not for me really either! How much does something like this cost to do? Feel free to PM me if you would rather keep it private (y)
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Costs are somewhat high, but think along the lines of:
~£900 flights (high because i need exit row, and you have to pay on United)
~£1,000 car rental
~£650 fuel
~£100/night accommodation
~£30/day food
etc...

It gets expensive quickly... it's clearly better financially if it's more than one person, but i don't think i could have done it with others on such a tight timescale.
 
Matt. said:
Costs are somewhat high, but think along the lines of:
~£900 flights (high because i need exit row, and you have to pay on United)
~£1,000 car rental
~£650 fuel
~£100/night accommodation
~£30/day food
etc...

It gets expensive quickly... it's clearly better financially if it's more than one person, but i don't think i could have done it with others on such a tight timescale.
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Ouch, thats a lot of cash! I'd considered buying a campervan, and selling it at the other end. In four weeks you shouldn't lose much money, providing it sells that is.
 
JakeT1992 said:
Ouch, thats a lot of cash! I'd considered buying a campervan, and selling it at the other end. In four weeks you shouldn't lose much money, providing it sells that is.
Click to expand...

Not that easy. If you're not from the US you wouldn't be able to insure it.
 
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