This was my first view into the Grand Canyon. I did do a bunch of image processing to increase the contrast, and reduce the haze that is present when looking over vast distances.

Wow, the Grand Canyon is truly Grand. To see it, almost immediately stirs the mind to ask the question, how did nature do it ? To see it, is hypnotic, it keeps your attention.

I came to the Grand Canyon this winter for two reasons:

1) To personally hand in an application for a Back Country/Camping permit. For June 2010, some of my friends planned and managed to get reservations for staying two nights at the Phantom Ranch down below in the Grand Canyon. That means hiking down about 16 miles and hiking up 10 miles. It is Sandra, Cindy, Jenna, Elaine, Vickie, and me. Yap, me and my babes. While the ladies got reservations at the ranch, there was no room available for Vickie and me, hence, we have to tent camp, me for two nights, Vickie one night then she gets into the Ranch the second night. The first day we can submit the application request for Jun camping is Feb 1st. There is no guarantee that Vickie and me will get the permit, since it is setup as lottery. If you get a reservation at the Ranch, that becomes your permit.

2) I wanted to tryout RV’ing in a snow environment. And there is lots of snow here at the South Rim. 

My RV, Bigfoot, does very well in winter conditions, enough said. On the left you see the South Rim Trail.

In the Grand Canyon you must take lots of photos, and that can be a challenge to get clean shots. There is a haze present, sometimes a fog rolls in and out of the canyon, and the distances are vast. Above you see, an image that is the result of merging two photos. Near the center, about 2/3 down, you see the Phantom Ranch and camping area. I used lots of post image processing to reduce the effect of “the haze”. To capture the majesty, panorama images is a must.

So have taken lots of photos for merging some of them into panoramas, and use lots of image processing techniques.

The above are albums, click to see the 1st and the 2nd. On the left are photos with minimum image processing. On the right are panoramas, with lots of image processing for enhancing scenes.