Back from a Utah / Arizona vacation

[NLD]

Thanks guys!

Disneyfaninaz, I read your trip report before taking ours. You probably don't remember but I also read your Yosemite trip reports--originally we were going to do a California (Yosemite / Monterey) trip this summer, but plans changed so we ended up in Arizona/Utah instead. Have really loved reading all your national park trip reports.

Mom2rtk, we didn't make it to Arches. Just Zion and Bryce for the Utah part of the trip. Hoping to go back some day and pick up Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef on a different trip. Totally sucks to have your DSLR die in a national park!!!!!!!! OMG, so sorry. That would make me cry!

The camera around dd's neck is my old Nikon D60 with its kit lens. She only used it a few days on the trip, but when she did, she enjoyed it. Put it on Program mode for her and just adjusted ISO for her at various points. She didn't like carrying the "big" camera all the time, but did enjoy shooting with a DSLR. I put it on my Black Rapid strap for her at one point, thinking that would make it easier for her to carry, but she didn't like that strap.

I have to get Dh to send me dd's photos from the D60... he was unloading them to his laptop. Will be interesting to see what she captured.

 

[NLD]

Okay, as for photography thoughts on the trip...

First off, every single place we went, I wished we had longer, when it came to photography. When you only stay at a place one or two nights, you just don't leave yourself enough chances for catching pics in the really good light. I woke up just AFTER sunrise at Bryce, for example--and that was our only sunrise at Bryce. I just slept through my alarm, out of exhaustion. When this stuff happens and you know it was your only chance, it's kind of sad.

Secondly, it's tough burning the candle at both ends. The biggest meltdown of our trip was not dd, it was me. It happened because I stayed up till 2:30 a.m. on our one Grand Canyon night, trying to get meteor shots and then night shots near El Tovar. (P.S. Do you know what's the scariest animal in the world? Elk. That's right, elk. When you are completely alone in the wee hours and they start surrounding you and your tripod by the dozens, they are SCARY. Long story.)

Anyway. Stayed up till 2:30 a.m., fell into bed at our lodge (Yavapai), woke up at 5:30 a.m. to catch sunrise. But... my husband also got up for sunrise, so I let him go to the rim to see it. Which meant I had to stay in the room with dd (sleeping). Therefore, I got three hours sleep and didn't even get to see or shoot the sunrise at Grand Canyon. (Again, our only sunrise opportunity at GC.)

Totally threw me off the rest of the day.... I wimped out on hiking down Bright Angel, slept on the way to Sedona, and then slept IN Sedona our whole first afternoon (and sunset) there. Oy.

I say all this just to say, for anyone considering a trip--if you CAN, add time to your schedule and stay longer than you think you need in each place, if photography is a priority.

 

[NLD]

As for gear:

I was worried going into the trip about my widest lens being 28mm. (That's on FX, so it's definitely wide-angle, but NOT ultrawide.)

Turned out to be just fine. If I'd had an ultrawide, I'm sure it would have gotten some use. But it didn't feel like I was missing tons of opportunities without it. I had considered buying a Rokinon 14mm manual focus lens prior to the trip, just to have ultrawide, but ultimately decided to keep saving my pennies for the lens I really want--the Nikon 16-35. In the end, this was the right decision for me. I very much want ultrawide in my kit, but it really was okay going out west without one this time.

Most of the time I used the much-maligned Tamron super zoom--28-300mm, variable aperture. Sometimes it had a circular polarizer on it, sometimes not.

It is definitely not the sharpest lens. But you know what, for a family vacation, with a kid in tow.... it was a good option.


The telephoto focal length range was just as useful as the wide end of the lens. Lots and lots of ways to use telephoto in landscape shooting.


Also brought an external flash, the SB-600. Really only used it a few times, in harsh midday light to throw fill light on a couple posed shots of Dh with dd. Glad I had it though. It definitely helped to get a shot of them together in front of Grand Canyon.

Oh, and the tripod--definitely definitely need a tripod.

Finally--what I really missed not having was a neutral density filter. Needed it for silky water shots. It's just something I haven't gotten around to buying, and that's stupid, because it's just a filter. So for anyone who does a National Parks trip and doesn't have one of these yet--get one.

Anyway. So there you have it. I might post an actual trip report in the California and the West section of the boards, if anyone's interested, but thought I'd throw the photography talk up here first.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Thanks guys!

Disneyfaninaz, I read your trip report before taking ours. You probably don't remember but I also read your Yosemite trip reports--originally we were going to do a California (Yosemite / Monterey) trip this summer, but plans changed so we ended up in Arizona/Utah instead. Have really loved reading all your national park trip reports.

Thanks for reading them, I'm glad you enjoyed them. I do remember you posted now.

I hope to add another report as we visit the Petrified Forest, Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde in October.

 

[wdw1976]

Love them! And would love to see more!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

As for gear:

I was worried going into the trip about my widest lens being 28mm. (That's on FX, so it's definitely wide-angle, but NOT ultrawide.)

Turned out to be just fine. If I'd had an ultrawide, I'm sure it would have gotten some use. But it didn't feel like I was missing tons of opportunities without it. I had considered buying a Rokinon 14mm manual focus lens prior to the trip, just to have ultrawide, but ultimately decided to keep saving my pennies for the lens I really want--the Nikon 16-35. In the end, this was the right decision for me. I very much want ultrawide in my kit, but it really was okay going out west without one this time.

Most of the time I used the much-maligned Tamron super zoom--28-300mm, variable aperture. Sometimes it had a circular polarizer on it, sometimes not.

It is definitely not the sharpest lens. But you know what, for a family vacation, with a kid in tow.... it was a good option.


The telephoto focal length range was just as useful as the wide end of the lens. Lots and lots of ways to use telephoto in landscape shooting.


Also brought an external flash, the SB-600. Really only used it a few times, in harsh midday light to throw fill light on a couple posed shots of Dh with dd. Glad I had it though. It definitely helped to get a shot of them together in front of Grand Canyon.

Oh, and the tripod--definitely definitely need a tripod.

Finally--what I really missed not having was a neutral density filter. Needed it for silky water shots. It's just something I haven't gotten around to buying, and that's stupid, because it's just a filter. So for anyone who does a National Parks trip and doesn't have one of these yet--get one.

Anyway. So there you have it. I might post an actual trip report in the California and the West section of the boards, if anyone's interested, but thought I'd throw the photography talk up here first.

Good advice. I am planning on using the Nikon 18-300 (DX format) on my Alaskan cruise next year.

I have to look into the flash.

I use a graduated neutral density filter on my smaller lenses, It came in handy for landscape shots. But, I"ll have to look into one for my 77MM.

PS. I'd love to see a full trip report!

 

[dcg0317]

Beautiful shots, well done thanks for sharing

 

[mom2rtk]

Mom2rtk, we didn't make it to Arches. Just Zion and Bryce for the Utah part of the trip. Hoping to go back some day and pick up Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef on a different trip. Totally sucks to have your DSLR die in a national park!!!!!!!! OMG, so sorry. That would make me cry!

The camera around dd's neck is my old Nikon D60 with its kit lens. She only used it a few days on the trip, but when she did, she enjoyed it. Put it on Program mode for her and just adjusted ISO for her at various points. She didn't like carrying the "big" camera all the time, but did enjoy shooting with a DSLR. I put it on my Black Rapid strap for her at one point, thinking that would make it easier for her to carry, but she didn't like that strap.

I have to get Dh to send me dd's photos from the D60... he was unloading them to his laptop. Will be interesting to see what she captured.

Okay, as for photography thoughts on the trip...

First off, every single place we went, I wished we had longer, when it came to photography. When you only stay at a place one or two nights, you just don't leave yourself enough chances for catching pics in the really good light. I woke up just AFTER sunrise at Bryce, for example--and that was our only sunrise at Bryce. I just slept through my alarm, out of exhaustion. When this stuff happens and you know it was your only chance, it's kind of sad.

Secondly, it's tough burning the candle at both ends. The biggest meltdown of our trip was not dd, it was me. It happened because I stayed up till 2:30 a.m. on our one Grand Canyon night, trying to get meteor shots and then night shots near El Tovar. (P.S. Do you know what's the scariest animal in the world? Elk. That's right, elk. When you are completely alone in the wee hours and they start surrounding you and your tripod by the dozens, they are SCARY. Long story.)

Anyway. Stayed up till 2:30 a.m., fell into bed at our lodge (Yavapai), woke up at 5:30 a.m. to catch sunrise. But... my husband also got up for sunrise, so I let him go to the rim to see it. Which meant I had to stay in the room with dd (sleeping). Therefore, I got three hours sleep and didn't even get to see or shoot the sunrise at Grand Canyon. (Again, our only sunrise opportunity at GC.)

Totally threw me off the rest of the day.... I wimped out on hiking down Bright Angel, slept on the way to Sedona, and then slept IN Sedona our whole first afternoon (and sunset) there. Oy.

I say all this just to say, for anyone considering a trip--if you CAN, add time to your schedule and stay longer than you think you need in each place, if photography is a priority.

I totally understand missing things. We have been to the area 4 times and still have a lot of stops on our "to do" list. We have started repeating some of our favorite destinations to see things we missed on prior trips.

But since you are a photographer, and have now had a taste of the southwest, I'm betting you'll be back. And when you do, don't miss Arches. And don't miss doing that scenic drive into Moab. It's amazing. We sort of did it by accident. I was driving and had to keep pulling over to take photos.

We have done a little bit of Canyonlands, but definitely want to go back. And we still need to see Capitol Reef.

So glad your DD is getting to know her camera. I keep mine on the dining room table, and lately my DD has been taking it to stalk the cats. It might be time for her own apprenticeship! I'm going to hold off letting her take one on vacation though since I usually end up carrying whatever she brings along. Although..... if I could talk her into using the 17-55 lens...... then I could put a fast long lens on mine...... Hmmmmm......

I have generally found that I do better with my photography on my second visit to a location. For example, on our first visit to the Grand Canyon, we took the railway and visited the south rim. Because of the time constraints, we only got to experience it in the glaring haze of the midday sun. When we went back, we stayed in a cabin on the rim and got to experience both sunset and sunrise there. I left so much happier that time.

I think it doesn't matter how long I have there, I will always feel like it's not enough time. If we stay somewhere too long, we miss some other stops. If we move on to the other stops, we never have enough time at each stop. So we're considering a trip back again soon. My husband really wants to see Zion again. We are nothing if not persistent. The great camera debacle was in 07. We went back in 2010 but found out the main road was being resurfaced and wouldn't open until later that day, and we had to be back on the road by then. Sigh. Oh well, if it gets us back to the area again, that's fine.

Love the photo of your DD on the horse. That is something we haven't tried. I'd like to add that to our list one day.

That elk incident does sound scary! My family is good with visiting these places but doesn't like to get up early, so I'm usually on my own in the wee hours. The elk would have definitely spooked me!

I hope you'll post more photos. I'd love to see them!

 

[NLD]

Mom2rtk,

Oh we'll definitely be back west! It's not the first time we'd been, but was the first time together. Last time I was at GC specifically, I was my dd's age!

I'll post a few more pics later. Right now it has to wait because I am now in Anaheim! (Work conference.) Doing an open-to-close day at DLR tomorrow. It's been 13 years since I was here... long time. On nostalgia overload right now (lived in So Cal as a kid, 20 minutes from Disney).

Going to meander off to Downtown Disney now.