It’s hard to believe that its been two months since I’ve lasted posted.

Grad school has kept me busy, but it’s been enjoyable. What I’ve come to realize over the past week is that I’ve dropped the editing of my photos from over the summer and creating a diary of the trip.

The impetus for the thought – Ken Burns’ series on the National Parks. Another outstanding series from him. I love watching the imagery and the narrative on the background stories behind the parks. You have to shake your head and wonder why the citizens of Wyoming didn’t want to protect this –

Oxbow Bend at Sunset

After 39 days on the road, I’m finally home. It was a great trip and I visited some wonderful places in the United States, but I’m more than ready to be back home.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll publish out my diary with pictures from the trip. On the trip, I was just too busy visiting places, taking photographs, and driving to write or edit photos.

Here are some statistics and various notes from the trip:
Miles Driven: 11,780
Speeding Tickets: Possibly 1 – speed camera trap near my parent’s house in Oak Ridge, TN. Not sure if I set it off or someone else. Supposedly, it’s a $50.00, non-moving violation, but I’ll be very irritated if I get it.
Number of Pop-Tarts Consumed: Please don’t ask
Number of McDonald’s breakfasts: 7
Number of Times Laundry Done: 6
Pictures Taken: 10,200
Nights in a Motel Room: 5
Nights Camping: 22
Weight Lost: 12 pounds
Miles Hiked: A bunch
Length: 39 days

States Visited:
North Carolina, Virginia, DC, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee

Parks and Monuments Visited:
Arlington Cemetery, National Mall and the monuments, various Smithsonian Institutes, Acadia NP, Cape Cod National Seashore, Badlands NP, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave NP, Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Mesa Verde NP, Bandelier National Monument, Custer State Park

Cheesiest Road-side attraction: Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, SD

Best purchases:
- Power inverter (user for camera battery charger, cell phone, and computer)
- Convertible pants
- Extand a Trunk (so I could lock up more items in my jeep)
- Road atlas
- Stuff bag for laundry

Items carried along that I never used:
- Cooler
- Utensils
- CS papers and magazines (made my departure feel less guilty, though),
- Photo books
- Clothesline

This past December(2008), I visited many of the popular photographic locations in Northern Arizona. One stop was “Horseshoe Bend”, just south of Page, Arizona.

Horseshoe Bend is a majestic feature of the Colorado River and is a easy mile and half roundtrip hike from the parking lot. Plan for at least an hour for the stop. From a timing standpoint, sunrise or just after sunset should work well. Prior to sunset, you’ll need to take into consideration that you are shooting into the sun.

Getting There:
The parking lot is well-marked in both directions along US-89 and is a couple of miles south of Page.

View Larger Map
(Click on the “A” icon to get specific directions)

It’s rather difficult to miss the trail leading out from this sign…

At the top of the hill, you can see the bend in the distant -

At the Bend, you’ll definitely need a wide angle lens to capture the scene in one shot. The below image is 24mm on a full-frame camara. Not being afraid of heights as well will also help. Just don’t ask me what the out of focus rock that ruins the photo is. Unfortunately, my pano attempt is just as bad.

Obstructed by a close rock

Here’s an attempt to save the photo by bringing in another image into Photoshop, auto-aligning the layers, masking to hide some of the obvious boundaries between the photos, and then cloning to clean up the rocks in the lower right-hand corner.

However, there are many more compositions to capture than just the bend itself – look around for yourself.

Search Flickr for More Images (most of which are far better than mine)

Watching the tourists in Toledo, Spain

Just protecting my territory….