I recently had the opportunity to spend over a month inside the canyonlands of Utah and Arizona. These travels consisted of everything from rarely visited slots, to the Grand Canyon and Zion. Contained on this page are ten of the images I feel best describe the grandeur of this landscape.

I will do my best to answer any questions pertaining to the images and I will look forward to comments and critique.


The first image here was made in the backcountry of Zion National Park.

5D, 70-200 at 180mm, no filters, f18

Edited by Marc Adamus on Dec 13, 2007 at 09:41 AM GMT

"River of the Gods", Zion National Park.

5D, 16-35II at 16mm, polarizer, 1 second at f14

"The Lost World"

Canon 5D, 16-35II at 16mm, 4 seconds at f22

I love it! The contrast is tremendous!
However, I only see one picture. Is something wrong with my system, or am I just early?

"Gateway to Paradise", Zion National Park

5D, 16-35II at 16mm, polarizer, 2 seconds at f16

"Canyon Wonders", Escalante Wilderness, Utah

Canon 5D, 16-35II at 30mm, polarizer, blended exposures, main exposure: 2 seconds at f13

"Canyon Falls", Escalante Wilderness, Utah

5D, 16-35II at 18mm, polarizer, 1 second at f18

"Stone Vortex"

5D, 16-35II at 16mm, 30 seconds at f22

"No Way Out", Escalante Wilderness, Utah

Canon 5D, 16-35II at 16mm, polarizer, blended exposures 1/2 to 8 seconds.

Edited by Marc Adamus on Dec 13, 2007 at 09:27 AM GMT

Zion, Moonset

Canon 5D, 16-35II at 20mm, 2-stop GND, polarizer, 2 seconds at f10

"Flaming Canyon", Grand Canyon National Park

5D, 16-35II at 24mm, 3-stop GND, 1 second at f11

I see I was just too early! Some fabulous beauty here! I'm jealous!
I especially love No. 1 and No. 3; but all are fabulous!

Mark: You sure nailed this wonderful area. You fully accomplished your plan. These are fantastic images individually and they perfectly reflect the grand, the subtle and the hidden beauty of the Southwest.

A truly fine series.

Bart

So if nine describe it best and here are ten, which one doesn't?

Serious: I admire your strict editing. Ten pictures from one month shows
great restraint. Can I ask how many you took?

Hard to pick a favourite here; they're all great. Flaming Canyon is most
appealing to me, because I can nearly feel the foreground rocks.

MarcR wrote:
So if nine describe it best and here are ten, which one doesn't?

Serious: I admire your strict editing. Ten pictures from one month shows
great restraint. Can I ask how many you took?

Hard to pick a favourite here; they're all great. Flaming Canyon is most
appealing to me, because I can nearly feel the foreground rocks.



I'll change that to ten.....

I took about 50GB of photos, so narrowing it to ten for this presentation was quite a chore. There are plenty of others I would have liked to included.

Beautiful set of images.Superb.
It would sure be nice to be able to spend over a month shooting in these places.

what a wonderful series i thought...and then i looked at the author..no wonder...

Marc, your work is obviously on another level from most of us. I'm constantly blown away with the images you share. One, I'm glad you still share your gorgeous images with those of us that have or may never achieve your level of skill.
I don't know how much of your knowledge your willing to share but even some imput from you as to your blending workflow or technique would be so valuable.
Another FM photographer and I just returned from doing some shooting on the east side of the sierra and we stopped and viewed the work of Galen Rowell at his gallery in Bishop. I know you always liked and admired his work and I feel that you are at that same level already. Anyway any tips or techniques you're willig to share with us want-to-bes (even us old ones) will be most appreciated.
Regards,
Randy


Edited by Randy Walton on Dec 13, 2007 at 06:22 PM GMT

Truly inspirational, but that is what we have become to expect from your compositions. As hard as I tried to pick a favourite I couldn't but I can state that the 1st image moved me the most.

I see that your f stops ranged 10 -22 as was curious as to how you determined the final outcome. I am thinking of visiting this area next March so these shots are very motivating to me.

Thanks for sharing.


Al B

Edited by Al B on Dec 13, 2007 at 12:48 PM GMT

Mind blowing set Marc. I especially love the first shot and Zion moonset.

Wow - absolutely stunning! Congrats for that great work!
Claude

Those are great images!

Beautiful series, Marc.
Zion, Moonset is fantastic!

Marc,

Very Inspiring. I can't pick a favorite - Love them all. If I were forced to choose
one it will be #1. Your dedication to photography shows in each and very image.
Hope this is not the end of the series.

Cheers!
Hrishikesh

Hey Marc,

Fabulous set of shots. Since you ask for critique, I'll only comment on the 'negative' ones, if you can call them that. Lost World and Stone Vortex, while both striking, seem to lack what your others do in terms of big and bold. Gateway to Paradise, while certainly presenting a grand scene, is a bit ordinary for you; the large empty space that makes up the bottom left quarter of the shot really takes it down a notch, I feel.

Honestly though, this is an unbelievable set of images any one of which anyone would be proud to call their own. Looks like you had a great last few months Your portfolio over on photo.net is really something to behold.

AJ

Oh, ps, I think you're doing a wonderful service answering everybody's questions as you've been. I think its much appreciated and only serves to build your mighty reputation amongst us mortals


Edited by ajkessler on Dec 13, 2007 at 11:51 AM GMT