Grand Canyon West – Arizona

The Grand Canyon was our last official stop and highlight of our day-long tour. Located 100 miles east of the Hoover Dam, it took nearly 2 hours to get there, going through the Mohave Desert and some tiny dusty towns.

I didn’t know much about the Grand Canyon, but after research, I learned that, while certainly large, it’s neither the longest nor deepest in the world. It’s famous because many have visited and taken pictures. I’ve seen dramatic landscapes from the canyon, not knowing where they were taken.

We went to Grand Canyon West, on the western edge closer to Las Vegas. I later learned that the most scenic areas are on the south side. Photographically, I wasn’t thrilled with what I created. I brought my chunky medium format Fujifilm GFX to create large print-worthy landscapes. But that was not to be.

I could blame the location or the light, and those were factors. I’m sure a skilled landscape photographer could’ve created a more compelling image. I played with my compositions and tweaked the post-processing to create an image with some interest and balance. The lone broccoli-like tree was my focal point but was ultimately too small to have enough presence. At least it has foreground and background elements for some sense of depth.

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