Monument Valley Update

The trip to Monument Valley went well. George and I left Chandler at about 3:30 got out of Phoenix city limits by about 4:45 (long weekend and there is no quick way across the greater Phoenix area). Our trip found us in Sedona for sunset. From the sunset itself I'd say I got some very nice pictures, but the proof will have to wait until I get the film developed. That is the mixed blessing of film. You are forced to wait until you get around to developing it, but then you have the anticipation and excitement of get the prints back and going through them.

We spent a good couple hours taking photos of plants scenic views and the sun dropping behind the surrounding hills. You will have to just wait and see how the photos turn out. After the sunset photo session we took a break and had dinner at one of the local restaurants.

Our journey continued up through Flagstaff towards Monument Valley. The trip across the desert at night has very little to look at. We did stop a couple times to try and get some night shots of the stars but clouds kept drifting across the stars...Or cars going by on the roads. We did try to find a side road but it is quite a challenge since they don't like to mark them with signs of any kind. And as soon as you leave the main road you are on a dirt road--not gravel, dirt.

Eventually we found ourselves in Monument Valley around 1:30 or so. Instead of finding a hotel we decide since the sky is clear that some night photography of the moon, stars, and surrounding landscape was in order. Also, why bother sleeping when sunrise is but a few short hours away.

So for the next 2 hours George and I play with our new toys, both thoroughly pleased. Until the unthinkable happens. George's battery on his camera dies. This as you can imagine puts a damper on things. So we try to think of how we are going to get his camera back up and running. We are out in the middle of nowhere the only nearby town is Kayenta and they got nothing, zip. But what they did have was hotels. George braves the random wild dogs that seem to roam the town at night and asks the clerk at one of the hotels if he can charge his camera battery. They do so without and problems and George bought some postcards from them. We are back up and running in 20 minutes.

With the sky getting brighter by the minute George has us tearing though the desert at 90mph crossing the 23 miles back to the valley in record time. I got a few shots using my digital camera as we are speeding towards our chosen photo location (see the picture below).

For the next hour or so we captured the sun rising over the many stone monuments in the valley. I have no idea whether my photos will turn out but we will see. Once the sun was full up we both came to realize that we were both extremely exhausted, so we got back in our car and drove back towards home until we found a tree on the side of the road to provide a little shade. We parked and slept from 6:30 until 9:30. We couldn't sleep any longer since the sun had made it far too hot to survive without the air conditioning. So we got back on the road and headed for home.

Back in Flagstaff we stopped to check out the sunset crater (a volcanic crater). The weather was starting to turn bad with cold rain. But we did get some good shots of the Francisco Mountain that overlooks Flagstaff.

So that was pretty much the weekend, we got back in Chandler around 6:30pm to find Adam still at our place. Pictures will hopefully be ready later in the week (I plan on getting a photo CD to allow me to upload the pictures).

Sunrise in Monument Valley 

Off into the wild blue yonder

Well George and I just got back from doing a little lens shopping. After chatting with the guy at the camera store we both left with a new lens. George with a used Nikkor 70-210mm and the Sigma 70-300mm (w/ macro mode) for myself. The macroscopic mode is very nice. I'll somehow get all the photos I take from this trip digitized so I can share them with everyone. Or maybe I'll just make you all wait to see the prints. :)

The pseudo plan is to head monument valley in north-eastern Arizona. We hope to get some sun set/rise pictures and also some night ones from there. After that we may find ourselves in Zion National Park in southern Utah.

Wish us happy hunting and I'll get back to you on how the trip went.

Camera Lens

So I think today is the day...I buy a new lens for my camera. George was nice enough to bring my Nikon F65 down when he came to Arizona, so I have it here now. And with all the nice scenery around, and plenty of night photography opportunities it would be extremely nice to have a telephoto lens. So, I am looking at the possibility of buying a Sigma telephoto lens 70 - 300 mm focal length. You can find out more about it here.

So I'm currently waiting for George to get back from a meeting before we go and try out the lens using my camera (just looked at it yesterday...which tells you very little about it). I don't imagine there would be any issue with actually trying the lens out with my camera to ensure everything works as expected. The lens sells for about 270 USD which brings it to about the exact same price as from Henry's.

Star Wars

So the fact that everyone bailed on ritualistically Thursday night drinking turned out to be good. Joy and I ended up seeing Star Wars (Hitchhiker was only showing until 7:40). I must say that it was probably one of the best of the double trilogy. By far out shining the lack luster Episode I & II.

The unfortunate thing with prequels is that there are some things that can't surprise you since you know the future...takes a little out of fight scenes when you know what happens to the participants.

Another fun aspect is seeing all the old models of ships that lead to various craft such as the Imperial transport, ATSTs, A-Wing, etc...

All in all I think that it is worth a trip to the theatre.

Death by Sun

So the weather here is starting to become undesirable. Today is on meager 34 degrees (with a high of 38). But the killer is Sunday with its forecasted high of 44 degrees (and low of 25). This could get very interesting here. I don't think I have ever experienced such high of temperatures. So we will see how I fair. For anyone interested you can find the current weather conditions here.

Lucas strikes at Bush

So I happen across this article about the latest Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith, which point out that Lucas has made clear some of his political views. In particular where Darth Vadar quotes a statement from Bush "If you are not with me, you're my enemy!". For more of this fun you can read this article. No I'm even more excitted about seeing this movie.

That Clown Bush

I don't know if any of you have seen/read this. I personally watched it on Fox News (what a joke that whole station is). Basically Bush is comparing his war on terrorism to the war against the Nazi's. You can find it here.

Eventful Saturday Night

Hi all,

So what are you guys up to? I personally am sitting around waiting for my dinner to cook..honey garlic chicken wings. But they are going to be quite a bit longer...I should have pre-cooked them on the BBQ.

So the plan for the rest of the night is to: eventually eat something, drink some more Canadian beer (yes they have Moosehead here), and play some games...with good music to cover it all.

Let me know what you would do with all this free time (pretty much everyone I know here took off for the weekend).

-Ryan