Serendipity

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
1

Serendipity-AI-6257A77-25.jpg
Serendipity-AI-6257A77-25.jpg2000×1230 2.97 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

On our Christmas/New Year trip in 2014/15 we ended up in Page, AZ toward the end of the journey. I had never been to the slot canyons so on a spur of the moment I decided to look into taking a tour. There were a few options. One could take a “Photographer’s tour” which required the use of a tripod and which took 4 hours or a regular tour that took 2 hours and you could not bring a tripod.
“OK, sign me up for the photographer’s tour and I’ll pay for another ticket for my wife.”
" Not so fast, she has to have a tripod too."
" She’s not going to be taking any pictures."
" Too bad, those are the rules."
" OK, have a nice day and maybe some other time." :triumph:

So we packed up early the next morning and took a detour through the Grand Canyon and were witnesses to the results of a 50 year snow storm from the night before. Made me quickly forget the slot canyon hassles. >=))>

Specific Feedback

We went back to the slot canyons a couple years later. This time I brought along my spare tripod which my wife dutifully carried along. What kind of irked me was that there was a guy in our group who did not have a tripod but did have a real high $$$ camera that he thought would be able to handle the dim conditions without a tripod. The group had to “approve” him going along. I really cared less and doubt that he got many or any good images as that was before the image stabilization and sensor dynamics that we have today but the restrictive rules played out in our favor for this image and several others from a unique experience.

Technical Details

Sony A77
Sony 70-400 G @ 140mm, CPL
ISO 400, 1/500 @ f11
Processed in LRC and Luminar Neo for noise reduction

Critique Template

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  • Vision and Purpose:
  • Conceptual:
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  • Composition:
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  • Color:
  • Lighting:
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2

That is just flat out lovely Bill. Really nicely done.

3

A very lovely image and probably worth the tradeoff. The colors and light are special and I love the clouds hugging the mesa tops. The cloud shadows are a very nice touch.

I will refrain from speculating where that tour guy likely has found even more lucrative employment since then.

4

Diane: Most of the commercially guided tours out of Page are run by the Indian tribes on Indian land. It is apparently hard policy regarding the photographer’s tour. I suppose use of a tripod is one way to discriminate “real photographers” from the masses. I will say that the photographer’s tour was longer, went to more places, gave us priority at crowded sites and was a smaller group. The guy who gamed the system had purchased his ticket the day before and announced at the assembly point that he didn’t have a tripod. The tour guide was prepared to deny him access without a refund if the group didn’t agree to let him go.

5

This picture is stunning. The combination of tones, shadows and light make me feel the place like I was there. Mighty and old.
When I was there in person I could not contain the vastly of the place in my eyes. This picture brings me back there with all the emotions within.
I would never be tired of seeing this scene.

6

Amazing capture Bill, you were in the right place at the right time. Love seeing the timeline layers portrayed in this fashion. Recalls our visit to the Grand Canyon back in April of 2012. We were greeted by a snowman upon arrival at our lodge; they’d had a couple inches overnight.

7

Bill, this is a neat view of the Grand Canyon, with all the snow and the clouds. Our first visit was to the North Rim in the 90’s and we drove through snow drifts in July.