Now...the North Rim of the Grand Canyon!

And I thought Zion was a tough place to photograph!!!

Ohhh My Gosh!!!

Harsh light...deep, deep shadows...

...I was either overexposing or underexposing...

...I have a vastly greater appreciation for any photographer

who gets the really fabulous Grand Canyon shots!

Thank Goodness for Lightroom!!!

The North Rim is spectacularly beautiful.

Staying at the Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge was a wonderful

experience!  The main lodge is right at the edge of the Canyon.

You have to get reservations a year in advance for the cottages.

Our first night was in the newest part of the lodge...a typical

small motel room...

Then we had an opportunity to upgrade for the second night...

which you'll see in the next post!!!

Suffice it to say...we enjoyed hanging out at the edge.

Dining in the original dining room...built in 1928...

with spectacular views of the canyon!

We didn't have far to walk for beautiful views all around the lodge.

But we did take a drive visiting Point Imperial, Vista Encantada,

Walhalla Overlook, and Cape Royal.

I didn't do the canyon justice...it's just so "grand" photographs

just don't compare!

More of the Grand Canyon to see in the next post!!!

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Road Trip!!! First Photo Day...Zion National Park!

Disclaimer...

This trip was my first attempt at shooting

the gorgeous canyons of Zion and the Grand Canyon!

That said...OMG!!!

These canyons are sooooooo hard to photograph!!!

One of my very first "test" shots...when I imported them to 

Lightroom, the first 4 were totally black...

this was the 4th one!!!

Thanks to LR tweaks...I managed to resurrect this enough

for online pics!!!

OK...here comes the first challenge...

totally bright light...it was in the mid-late afternoon...

but still harsh light...

I loved the trees against the rock formation!

Again, very challenging as the camera was hand held...

lens was not a long telephoto...

and I cropped the bejeezus out of this to get what I wanted. 

Second and biggest challenge...

shooting extreme shadows against bright light!

Yep...in my original import, the shadows are practically black...

the brightly lit mountain, practically white...

Darned shadows and light!

I found the contrail rather comical!

Here you get a feel for the dark shadow/bright light challenges.

The shadows grew darker fast in the late afternoon.

...and yet...that bright sunlight stayed soooo bright!

I was very intrigued by these single trees springing 

up on the side of these austere canyon walls...

I think this is my favorite shot!

Challenge number three...

balancing the contrast between the bright light and deep shadows, 

without affecting the sky...

We were only in Zion for the afternoon...

our stop for the night was in Kanab Utah.

This was the sunset we got to watch while washing away the dust

with a cocktail at our B&B!!!

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The Next Day...Wine Song!!!

Our friends Steve and Sharron have been telling us about WineSong

for a long time...

So here we are!  In Mendocino...with beautiful surroundings...

...and lots of people!!! 

A wine tasting festival (fundraiser) par excellence!!!

It was a beautiful day...

and we're ready to tantalize our taste buds!!!

But wait!!!

Look at these spectacuar flowers!!!

Aren't they gorgeous?

And music!!!

And more flowers...

...I can't get enough!!!

The flowers were amazing!

After all...it was held in the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens!

I don't think he was too pleased that I took his pic...

...but this guy was fine with it!!!

There were musicians everywhere!

And then of course...the reason we were there...

to taste wine!!!

Tasting wine and smelling the flowers along the way...

with music playing in the background...

...what better way to people and enjoy the fabulous ambience!!!

The foursome!

A random girl, clowning around for her friends...

making hand hearts...

because just across the way....

...a young couple was getting some early wedding pics!!!

The end of the day...feet dragging after all that wine tasting...

more beautiful flowers to enjoy along the way!

WineSong is an annual fundraiser 

for the Mendocino Coast Hospital Foundation.

Close to 100 of the best California wineries, give or take a few!

Next one...

Saturday, Sept. 7th, 2019

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