Anyone photograph Canyon de Chelly, AZ?

We are going to be heading out the great American Southwest and plan to stop at Canyon de Chelly (never been). I'm wondering if anyone has photographed it, and if so, are there better/worse times of day to plan for shooting? Being tucked in under canyon walls, it looks like the standard "early morning/late afternoon" rules may not apply, and I don't want to show up 8 or 9 hours early for a shoot (presuming it is sunny).

Not that I would mind, on the face of it, spending all day at such an amazing place. But we are planning to catch Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Sunset Volcano, Wupatki, Grand Canyon...you know, everything we can get. We plan to stay in the area for at least a week, so it isn't like we'll be zooming from one place to the next in a huge hurry, but I would like to be able to do SOME modicum of planning. Most of the other places (being above ground) we can shoot on a normal photographing schedule to catch the best light, but the ruins in the Canyon mean I can either show up with fingers crossed and spend a whole day trying to figure it out (which I can do), or I can ask you guys.

If anyone has any experience there, I'd appreciate a heads up.

And I won't ask what camera or lenses I ought to take....
--
Joel

Never stop upgrading.

Hi, I've been there once, and got a few good shots using 6x7 film. It was mid morning if I recall and the light was fine on the White House side looking from the rim. I shot wide angle but many fine compositions are possible. The scale is immense. I didn't go down into the canyon and therefore have no experience in that area. I lucked out with good sky for the shots that included the sky.
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Vince

You might want to reconsider all the planned sites. I guarantee you will get much more out of spending some time at a few sites as opposed to blowing through a lot of sites.

Painted desert is just a drive through and it only takes on colors at twilight. In the day you will wonder why it's an attraction. Meteor crater is just a big hole in the ground. Not worth a detour in IMO. Petrified forest is interesting to walk around, but it's not much for photography unless you want to do some macros. Worth a stop, but not worth a detour.

OTOH, Canyon de Chelly is well worth at least a day. From the rim, good light is difficult. The desert sun gets strong quickly and the contrasts are extreme. Dawn and dusk are good for time exposures. The real joy of the place is hiking into the canyon. At any time of day you can get beautiful shots of "micro-landscapes"....like the light green foliage against the red rock, shifting sands of the stream bed, rock art, etc. You can horseback ride too, if you're into that.
--
Gary
http://garyjean.zenfolio.com/

You really should take a look at :

http://www.beautiful-landscape.com

Alain Briot has devoted years photographing Canyon de Chelly and many of his pictures appear on his site.

I can also recommend his book "Mastering Landscape Photography" as a very good primer on the subject - which again features many of his pictures of Canyon de Chelly.

Here's the amazon.co.uk page :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Landscape-Photography-Alain-Briot/dp/1933952067/ref=pd_ka_1/203-7598310-6935969?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173203123&sr=8-1
--
http://www.pbase.com/gDallasK
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gDallasK

This is exactly the kind of information a brother needs when making plans. As far as the meteor crater goes, I'm not sure if my wife has been there or not, and if she has we may well forgo those plans. I've been already, and though it's interesting in terms of astronomy/geology interactions, there really isn't much that can be said for it beyond, "Yup, it's a big hole."

I'll be planning the Painted Desert route accordingly, as I've been there and can attest to the fact that, in midday, it's just interesting and not particularly photogenic. Same for Petrified Forest, except for close-ups. In that regard, I suppose any time would be okay for that place.

On Monday (yesterday), I woke up and thought, "Hey, let's drive out to Arizona." So it's a bit spontaneous, but I'd like to maximize my shooting potential.

Thanks for your insights, and also to you, Vince! It has been nearly 20 years since I really visited out there. This will be my first time as a "photographer." (ha)

Gary Jean said:

You might want to reconsider all the planned sites. I guarantee
you will get much more out of spending some time at a few sites as
opposed to blowing through a lot of sites.

Painted desert is just a drive through and it only takes on colors
at twilight. In the day you will wonder why it's an attraction.
Meteor crater is just a big hole in the ground. Not worth a detour
in IMO. Petrified forest is interesting to walk around, but it's
not much for photography unless you want to do some macros. Worth
a stop, but not worth a detour.

OTOH, Canyon de Chelly is well worth at least a day. From the rim,
good light is difficult. The desert sun gets strong quickly and
the contrasts are extreme. Dawn and dusk are good for time
exposures. The real joy of the place is hiking into the canyon.
At any time of day you can get beautiful shots of
"micro-landscapes"....like the light green foliage against the red
rock, shifting sands of the stream bed, rock art, etc. You can
horseback ride too, if you're into that.
--
Gary
http://garyjean.zenfolio.com/

Click to expand...

--
Joel

Never stop upgrading.

I travelled to that area and photographed a number of your destinations and I found this book (Photographer's Guide to the Grand Canyon and Northern Arizona By Joseph K Lange) to be quite helpful and it should answer many of your questions. It is available from Amazon and others.

I am sure you will enjoy your trip. A couple other areas you might consider are Monument Valley and the Upper and Lower Antelope canyons, both near by the Grand Canyon and on the Navajo Nation. But there are many many place to see and photograph out there.

BobT

Fantastic resource, thank you very much. I'll be checking it out thoroughly.
--
Joel

Never stop upgrading.

The south rim overlooks can provide a lot of opportunities without even going into the canyon. Visit all the overlooks, all the way out to Spider Rock. If you feel up to it, at the White House ruins overlook you can hike all the way down the canyon and out to the ruins. There are plenty of good photo opportunities there.

Or, if you have a 4WD vehicle, you can hire a guide at the park visitor center in the morning, and he'll take you to plenty of photogenic places on about a five-hour tour.

For my part, luck and determination had more to do with my favorite image from the canyon. On the way home, I noticed it had clouded up and it looked like the light up on the rim might be more dramatic than it had been all week. So I made one more visit to the Tsegi Overlook and took this picture:

I will definitely be visiting Monument Valley, as well. And as much of Navajo country as is practicable on such a short trip (though how long we stay is pretty much up to us).
--
Joel

Never stop upgrading.

My goodness, what a phenomenal image. Perhaps there was some luck involved, but we make our opportunities, right?

We have a competent 4-wheeler, and I'd considered a Park Ranger-led tour. Perhaps we'll go that route. Shooting down into the Canyon might produce some great opportunites (as you have shown), but I would like to be able to get closer as well. I wonder if the 4WD tours allow for stops to take photos? Not much sense in it, otherwise. I'm sure if I told the tourguide that was my goal, he'd be accommodating. You pay by the hour, so it's probably fine with him, I guess. We shall see! I'm fairly excited. We leave tomorrow!
--
Joel

Never stop upgrading.

I was out there in September...beautiful (yet very poor economy). But the Navajo People are wonderful people and great hosts. I went out there with the Arizona Highways Photography Workshops and THOROUGHLY enjoyed myself.

Here are just a few I have up over at my site:
http://www.1dseries.com/1d/index.php?topic=14.0

Here is one if you don't want to go over there...this is spider rock during a storm.

Thanks



--
Wally
************************
1D Series Forum
http://www.1dseries.com
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http://www.wallyjarratt.com

Gary is right about the lighting. Your best light is early morning (sunrise) and dusk. The rest of the day you have to HUNT for your shots...
This was taken WAY after the sun had gone down...probably a 30 second exposure:



--
Wally
************************
1D Series Forum
http://www.1dseries.com
************************
http://www.wallyjarratt.com

First time in hours I've been able to get on this forum, man I was having serious withdrawals!

Thanks for the great shots and recommendations from all, it looks like we'll be spending the entire day there and crossing our fingers for some good light. We're adding Zion and Bryce Nat'l Parks in Utah to the itinerary, too. Going to be a busy couple of weeks.

Hope I can get images half as good as the ones you guys have posted here.

It's the perfect time to try and come to terms with my new 5D, after downshifting from the Mark II N. The fact that I'll probably get much better images will take the sting out of the shift, I'm sure...

Any other advice or photos are of course welcome. Thanks again!

Best,
--
Joel

Never stop upgrading.

You might want to get a book called "Land of the Canyons...A Photographer's Guide to Utah and Arizona" by Laurent Martres.

Also, get some of the Photo Traveler guides at:

http://www.phototravel.com/

These were of great use to us in planning our trips out West. One trip we hit Zion, Bryce, Antelope Canyon, Lake Powell, Grand Canyon etc., and a separate trip to Canyon de Chelly, Painted Desert, Monument Valley.

I have reports and images here:

http://www.dlcphoto.com/Dec04Part2/Dec04Part2.htm

http://www.dlcphoto.com/Zion/Zion%20Frameset.htm

http://www.dlcphoto.com/Bryce/BryceFrameset.htm

http://www.dlcphoto.com/Powell/PowellFrameset.htm

http://www.dlcphoto.com/Arizona/ArizonaFrameset.htm

We hired local guides at Canyon de Chelly and Monument Valley, which made a huge difference in our access and experience. Here's a shot from Canyon de Chelly:



Have fun!

--
Don Cohen
http://www.dlcphoto.com
Costa Rica Photo Safari - April, 2007:
http://www.dlcphoto.com/CRPS0407/PhotoSafari4General.htm

I would also recommend the bisti badlands.

Here is a sample



Gordon

davidbogdan

Here is a link to my "Around Arizona" galleries; this link excludes National Parks.

http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia/around_arizona

Below are specific sub-galleries of places you indicated interested in including the Grand Canyon National Park.

http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia/wupatki_natl_monument
http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia/canyon_de_chelly
http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia/sunset_crater
http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia/grand_canyon

I suggest you look at the full EXIF data for the "time of day" noting that my cameras are always set to Arizona time; this will give you a feel for timing of certain shots. OBTW, be absolutely certain to click on "Original" for the size of the very first picture you look at; you only have to do this once and only for the first picture (otherwise Pbase will degrade the quality somewhat of everything you look at to reduce bandwidth).

BTW, a nice place to stay the night before you visit the Grand Canyon is the Cameron Trading Post located in Cameron, AZ; this place is on the road between Page and Flagstaff. The GC is about a 40 minute drive from the trading post.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and you will have a nice trip.

Regards,

Joe Kurkjian, Pbase Supporter

http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia



SEARCHING FOR A BETTER SELF PORTRAIT

for nice pictures. You might consider a jeep tour of Mystery Valley (also an afternoon place).

Regards,

Joe Kurkjian, Pbase Supporter

http://www.pbase.com/jkurkjia



SEARCHING FOR A BETTER SELF PORTRAIT

don't drink the water in Chinle area. Same with coffee, etc.

Anywhere on Navaho land, be aware that horses and cattle are not fenced in - predawn and dusk are the most obvious danger times, SLOW DOWN!

I am convinced that thruout Arizona, deer are suicidal and determined to eliminate man from the state. They will absolutely stand and stare you down as you approach, flashing lights and blaring horn - do not underestimate these devils, especially in the area between Page and Zion....

afternoon for Canyon de Chelly, as the west side drive offers the best drive by access for late afternoon shots - especially for white house and Spider rock. Not to start a flame war, but be aware that as in most tourist spots, your vehicle may not be safe from breaki-ns/theft if you leave indications of valuables in sight - parking at White house is in sight of the overlook, but Spider Rock for example, is well out of sight.

Arizona is quite large, and from Page to Monument Valley takes several hours - it doesn't look that far on the map, but think in terms of 3-4 hours to get from one spot to another, and you can see that every day will be very busy.

Laurent Martres books also highly recommended, as is skipping meteor crater and the other places of slight photographic interest. Shooting Grand Canyon, South Rim, the best places are the far west end - if the road is closed to all but shuttle bus ( I think that's open to cars only Dec to March) then you should still head over to Hermit's Rest. Well worth it, best views. Look for the Ravens!

This is one of my last check-ins before we leave (wife's still in bed), and the suggestions have been perfect! Thank you thank you thank you! Advice from people about issues unique to an area is invaluable in these situations, like drinking the water, best viewing spots and time, CRIME (same problems in isolated Big Bend areas), etc. Just perfect.
--
Joel

Never stop upgrading.