Grand Canyon: Night

(The Colorado River from Lower Tuckup Canyon Camp, Canon 7D, 17-40 f4L, @17mm, ISO 800, f4.0, 30seconds, tripod)

I’m spoiled by stars. Alaska is big and wild, and even at my home just a few miles north of Fairbanks, the city lights are only a distant nuisance, and the night skies are a wide-open beach of stars. But the desert… Wow, what nights! The cloudless skies, distance to cities, and the clear desert air allow an almost unsurpassed view of our galaxy. Combine the astral scenery with the rising canyon walls, the river, the warmth of a campfire, and its hard to imagine anything better. In fact, I don’t think it actually does get much better. Some of my favorite moments of the trip were spent around the evening fire. There was a lot of laughter and reliving the day’s adventures and misadventures. I’d tilt my head back to block the light from the fire and stare up at the slowly rotating mosaic above, identify the few constellations and planets I recognized, sip my beer and stare. When the moon rose, it was like a muted daylight as the formerly silhouetted canyon sprang back to sleepy life. The cracks, aretes, and ridges regained texture in the gray moonlight.

Occasionally, I’d make a few images.

(Camp at Upper Tuna, Canon 7D, 17-40f4L, @17mm, ISO400, f4.0, 30seconds)

(Camp, Lower Tuckup, Canon 7D, 17-40f4L, @17mm, ISO800, f4.5, 20seconds, tripod)

(Tent, illuminated by headlamp from within, Tuckup Canyon Camp, Canon 7D, 17-40f4.0L @19mm, ISO 800, f4.0, 20seconds, tripod)

(Canyon walls and night sky, Whitmore Wash. Canon 7D, 17-40f4L @17mm, ISO800, f4.0, 30 seconds, tripod, wall lit by handheld flash off camera behind and above camera, gelled with two full cuts of CTO)

These image and others from the Grand Canyon are available for purchase as prints or digital downloads on my stock site right HERE.

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