Vacation to Scottsdale and Grand Canyon - Advice Requested re activities and gear

Rob-F said:
Skip the red filter. A strong yellow, about Wratten #9, to a yellow-orange #12, will give plenty of drama. OK a straight orange if you must. But a red filter tends to make things look over-filtered, with too much contrast, and black skies. They can be used to make a scene shot in full daylight, appear as if taken at night! That's drama!
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Thank you for the info.

I don't suppose you have an example photo or two to share that would help me visualize the effects of each filter type / strength?

Are you saying that reds can make a daylight shot look like a night shot or that the strong yellow can do that? Or both? It's been a long day and I'm a bit tired so I apologize for my slight confusion.

Cheers.
 
Chris101 said:
I've got to ask, why Scottsdale and the Grand Canyon? Although they are both in Arizona, they are hundreds of miles away from each other.

Lots of stuff in between - Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, Arcosanti, Montazumas Castle, Sunset Crater, Flagstaff, Williams and Route 66... Northern AZ is da bomb.
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Scottsdale is about four hours or so from the Grand Canyon. Looks like Sedona is about two. I've spent more than four hours on the beltway before getting home from work. :p

We are not committed to any particular location at the moment. We want to do a bunch of excursions and the the area in general, not just the Grand Canyon (probably a day only for that). Scottsdale, when we were looking at resorts, seems to offer more bang for the buck in terms of the rooms we could get in our price bracket. I suppose we could always spend a couple days in Scottsdale, a couple in Sedona, etc.

I'm sure that we will not be able to see everything we would like to see in a one week trip.
 
kuzano said:
Do you have reasons that lock you into Scottsdale. I only ask because Scottsdale is just another one of the communities around Phoenix. However, it happens to be the most upscale community in the area and very expensive, more-so than Phoenix itself.

Granted you are going to be in Tourist country throughout, but accommodations in Scottsdale will eclipse most of the sight seeing areas price-wise. Furthermore it offers nothing scenic. And, as mentioned it's a good near daylong drive to the Grand Canyon.

Otherwise, mentions of Jerome, Sedona, Oak Creek and Oak Creek Canyon are good and will take you through some beautiful country. Another quaint town is Prescott.

Obviously, the main draw to the area is Grand Canyon, so pay close attention here to comments about planning and registering ahead.
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So, if we want to do a day at the Grand Canyon, but also see the petrified forest, and fit in a couple other nice scenic locations with a couple days for just relaxing and doing more or less nothing... where would you suggest we stay?

We hope to make all of our reservations asap.

Obviously I am much less familiar with the area than everybody else in this thread. :)

Thank you for your insight!
 
Sure, the Grand Canyon is over-photographed, but it is a must-see in the US. You'll be glad you went. People from all over the world go there for a good reason. I've been there several times, most recently for a long half-day. We entered the park from the East (near the Watchtower) and worked our way to Grand Canyon Village (Mather Point, etc). Strolling the pathways here offers great views and I find being among the visitors interesting for a time. After a tailgate supper we stayed at the rim until well after sunset, then reluctantly left for a hotel in Flagstaff. The Bright Angel Lodge looked to be the one that we would have preferred if we were staying; rustic and in an interesting area. We walked a few hundred yards down the trail there, putting us in with the small percent of visitors that leave the rim.

I got nice color scenics with wide & short tele lenses during the day, 35mm on a 5D mostly. I use a polarizer and would be quite happy with an RX100 if the filter could be attached. Haven't worked out how to add an image to a post yet.
 
david.elliott said:
I'm not a hiker really. I'm in decent shape, but hiking / running / jogging etc are not in my itinerary and have not been for some time. I'll probably skip the hiking down and up especially in what I assume will be rather uncomfortable heat.
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If you're early May, it may still be cool at the rim. 6000+ feet. You don't have to hike all the way to the bottom, even a mile of trail from the rim is quite different. The 1.5 mile rest house on the Bright Angel trail or "Ohh Ahh Point" on the South Kaibab trail are within reach of anyone in decent shape and a pair of sneakers.

I recommend staying at the Grand Canyon village if you can get a reservation now (hard to say). The easy access for both sunrise and sunset are worth it (for me at least).
 
mike rosenlof said:
If you're early May, it may still be cool at the rim. 6000+ feet. You don't have to hike all the way to the bottom, even a mile of trail from the rim is quite different. The 1.5 mile rest house on the Bright Angel trail or "Ohh Ahh Point" on the South Kaibab trail are within reach of anyone in decent shape and a pair of sneakers.

I recommend staying at the Grand Canyon village if you can get a reservation now (hard to say). The easy access for both sunrise and sunset are worth it (for me at least).
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Decent shape - check. Sneakers - check. Maybe we can do a bit of hiking. :)

Looking into reservations at the village. Thanks.
 
About a year after my wife and I got married, we took a driving trip from Ft Knox to NW Missouri, up through Nebraska, South Dakita, Wyoming, then cut a corner of Montana and Idaho (via Bear Tooth Pass), down to Yellowstone, the Salt Lake City, several scenic sites and canyons to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Then to the Four Corners, which I found fascinating (Mesa Verde), through Wolf Creek Pass to Colorado Sprints, across Kansas to Missouri again, and returned to Ft Knox. We traveled by VW camper. A tough but fascinating trip. I wouldn't recommend it to any but the most hardy. We were younger then. :D

But since you are in that part of the country, depending on what you want from your vacation, you might consider a side trip to the Four Corners and environs.

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/directions.htm and http://wiki.answers.com or google "How_many_miles_away_is_the_Grand_Canyon_from_the_four_corners_monument" to see if it seems too arduous for you. I get the impression you are looking for some just goof off time and take it easy time for your vacation, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

Regardless of what or how you do it, I think you will enjoy that area and be glad to have vacationed there.

As to gear, it depends on what you anticipate from your photographs. I took my Fujica ST 901 and a variety of primes and zooms (including an 18mm and a 24mm, as well as a 28mm, 135mm, and 80-200mm zoom), as well as a Super Press 23 (only at standard 100mm lens and a 65mm wide at the time). I found that worked well for me, but then again, I was traveling in a vehicle. But I really like the MF photos I got. YMMV. But whatever, I look forward to seeing your photos and hearing how you two enjoyed wherever you end up going.
 
If you do stay in Scottsdale, cross the bridge over to Tempe for an evening on Mill Street (google it for their website). Plenty of resteraunts, bars, etc. Oh, and have a Kilt Lifter beer there.
 
As KevinS mentioned above, I would highly rate visiting the Watchtower area (Desert View). I found it much more easier to photograph because you are that much closer to the bottom of the canyon. I agree with an earlier poster that the Grand Canyon is a difficult place to photograph (to capture its magnificence). I would recommend looking at other photographs of the South Rim to be able to figure out capture it.

Jerome is a nice place to visit and I would rank it higher than Prescott.
 
A couple years ago we stayed in Oak Creek for a week and explored the area, very scenic. And then hit Grand Canyon in the harsh Noon light on the way home. I used a 135mm-equivalent lens on medium format and this helped getting more interesting views from the South Rim. (some pics in my Doug's SLR Collection) But I regret we hadn't planned a couple days there, if only to catch later and earlier light.

Back in Sedona, there are two roads in from the south, the one off I-17 through Oak Creek, and the one coming in from Cottonwood. Off the latter, you can take the road up to the Sedona Airport and stop to walk up to a saddle between two mesas, the airport being atop the south mesa. That saddle is said to host a hotspot of psychic energy... besides having a magnificent view. So perhaps good for meditation and appreciating the beauty of the world. :)

Then going out of Sedona up the Oak Creek Canyon toward Flagstaff, it's tight quarters but with photo ops if you can find a spot to pull off for a walk.
 
As others have mentioned, it may be too late to get a reservation in the GC park but you should keep checking, even until the last minute. There are always cancellations. Even if you can't stay overnight, I highly recommend eating at the Arizona Room on the South Rim. You'll have to get there early to get in and they generally have 2 sittings. If you get the first sitting, you will be able to see the sun set while having your steak or prime rib dinner (the beef is good). The Arizona Room is right next to the rim.

An alternative place to find lodging besides Flagstaff is the town of Williams. it is a quaint tourist town and it is where the GC train starts (it costs $100/person which I don't think is worth it).

There are many Indian ruins to explore and might be an interesting use of your macro lens. I can't recall their names but just Google it. Walnut Canyon is one place that allows you to walk within the cliff dwelling but I don't recall many opportunities to do macro work there.
 
Worry less about photographing the Grand Canyon and focus more on taking it all in and making some memories(unless you've got a good scoop on a time and location for a landscape). Film might help encourage this approach, given the limitations of a roll. Most people are too busy taking pictures they barely take in the grandeur of the place. The Hualapai Reservation had some wonderful vistas but will be crowded, as I suspect will any other location. And the helicopters were flying around like locusts. Their suspended glass platform is impressive but not necessarily mandatory.

And don't fall off!
 
So many great spots in Arizona. Just got back from there myself on Tuesday. We didn't make it to the canyon but spent time around Montezuma's Castle, Flagstaff, Sedona. Fascinating part of the world.
 
I can't thank you all enough for your input and advice. I've had a rather abrupt change in vacation plans. I found a rather good deal on airfare to Iceland so... I'm going to Iceland for a week in a little over a month. Guess I need to make a new thread, eh?

:)

Grand Canyon will have to wait until next year.
 
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