Going back home...

This moment was inevitable from the beginning. It's the worst moment of the whole Phototrip. We have to get back home. Today we'll go to the Phoenix airport and then to Warsaw via Houston and Paris. This time our carrier is Continental and Air France. We'll see how they care about passengers.
Today is the best moment for summarizing the whole trip. So generally I'm very happy that we did it almost exactly according to the plan. We were in all places, weather wasn't bad, we've taken about 5000 pictures or even more, met a lot of nice people, etc. Later we'll see if any of pics are good enough, but I hope to have at least 3 good pictures and at least 20 acceptable. It's hard to say now. Of course if pictures are not good enough, it's not a problem - we think positive and we'll just plan another phototrip :)
What else can I say? Of course I have to thank to my friend for getting along with me for almost three weeks (to be honest it brings to my mind the Speccy game - "Three Weeks in Paradise" - remember this great game?). He is a very good pal and I'm sure I can go with him one, two or even hundred more times for such trips. So thanks a lot, again!
Besides I must thank to my beloved wife for allowing me to go for such trip and for taking care of kids. Thank you sweetheart! Of course I'd like to greet my daughters in this place and thank them for waiting for me. Or maybe rather for what I brought for them? :)
And that's it. I have nothing more to say about this Phototrip. But hope to keep this blog alive and write about my other trips. The nearest is Italy in June, so keep waiting!

Havasupai and mysterious meeting

It had to be the highlight of our Phototrip 2008. And to some extent it was even more! But let's start from the beginning...
After the very short night spent in Caverns Inn we packed our Hummer very early and headed to the Hilltop Parking. Arrived there about 6 a.m., left the car and started to hike down. Backpacks were heavy, but trail seemed to be easy. We passed the village at about 9 or 9:30 and only stopped by the post office to drop postcards, then went farther to famous Navajo Falls.
I was amazed with the amount of water in the fall - during my autumn visit it was much less water and the falls were more easily accessible. Besides weather was a bit windy and water was everywhere - especially on our cameras. I've to mention that taking good pictures of this waterfall requires crossing the Havasu creek, then standing on the terrace in knee-depth water to take pictures. Of course you have to set your tripod to be stable and sometimes it's not easy while having all the gear on your back, belt and everywhere else. We wanted to make the most of the morning light, but it was changing rapidly and I've only taken few pictures. The worst was endless cleaning of the lens, filters and cameras and covering gear with some protector - water was splashing in a really bitchy way. I must admit that autumn seems to be much better season for taking pictures in Navajo Falls and how later turned out, also other waterfalls. So after not very long fight with nature, we gave up about 1 p.m. and headed to the campground, where put up the tent and prepared some food. Weather was very hot and lazy. After so short previous night and good lunch I fell asleep immediately. Woke up late and was too lazy to go anywhere, so we used the situation to take some pictures of birds, lizards, bats, squirrels, dragonflies and other stuff. It was the first evening we could commune with nature and relax - decided not to take any more pictures of waterfalls that day.
On the next day we woke up early and went to Mooney Falls for some morning photos. Weather was good and not many people came to the spot. We've taken few memory cards of pictures and came back to the campground for breakfast. Sun was going higher and higher and we had a lot of plans - one was to go to Beavers, the other - to check the upper trail. But as usual, life verified plans, we were very lazy and quit both of them.

Instead we went to Havasu Falls to check some spots for the evening session and see how is the light about noon. It was good decision. Light wasn't perfect, but there were two "mermaids" swimming around the corner. I saw them, because just went to the small remote island. They weren't very shy and shown me everything, but I was too shy to take pictures :) On the way back to the campground we took some pictures of cactis and other flowers. Then had a very lazy afternoon - some nap and hunting for hummingbirds and other beasts with a camera of course!

Few hours before sunset we headed to Havasu again. This time with a serious sunset pictures in mind. Light was much better, but wind was blowing stronger and just after setting the tripod and camera on it, everything got wet. It was really a challenge to take a picture in this circumstances. I think we found pretty good spots, and recent ones even gave us some water protection. But this is not the most important thing that happened this evening...
While I was on the remote island (discovered earlier) taking pictures, I've just noticed the guy getting to me through the water like chamois. He came to me and start talking about the place, pictures and just general small talk. Seemed to be a very nice guy and had very deep knowledge of the place. I asked him about upper trail, good spots and some other stuff and he answered to all my questions. Once I started to wonder if by any chance it might be Derek von Briesen (this guy is my photo guru and has best pictures of southwest I've ever seen in my life!), but I've never seen his portrait, so it was just suspicion. My friend was away from me, so I couldn't ask him for opinion. Somehow it was not easy to ask the guy directly what was his name and we finished talking. He left Havasu.
Then my friend came and ask me about the guy and his suspicions. We discussed facts and myths and decided that we are almost sure it was Derek. Decided to walk along the campground and look around. Unfortunately we didn't find the guy. What a pity!
Next day first thing in the morning we packed our tent and all the stuff and started hike up. Just before 7a.m. we got to the Havasupai Office and asked the guy for backpacks transport by helicopter. The price was 20 USD per bag, so we decided to send the stuff up and not to carry it. It was very good decision. With only light bags we reached the top in about 3h30m (from the campground) - much faster then during my autumn trip when I had all the stuff with me. Unfortunately bags came over an hour later, but finally they came and we headed to Phoenix to pick up our new lenses (Canon 100-400), but this is a different story...

Mesa Arch and other nice places

Today we decided to go and see sunrise at famous Mesa Arch point in Canyonlands. We arrived to the parking about 5:30 and 15 minutes later were at the spot. What we noticed was about 20 people with tripods and cameras occupying best spots. Somehow we found good places to take photograph of sun rising over Mesa Arch and started to wait for a Sun^TM. After few minutes it appeared and people started to take pictures like crazy. Everyone had a different idea how to photograph this nice place. I decided to take a picture with sun rays on it. And I think I succeeded, but rate it yourself.
After leaving Mesa Arch we get back to camping for a breakfast. This day we had a grilled chicken para desayuno. The day before we found amazing stuff in supermarket - instant grills for less than 5 bugs. What does it mean? It means that you pay money and can instantly grill your food. Such device consists of something like ash can/container, coal or something similar, fire-starter and grid. You just need matches and some meat to prepare a complete meal. So we had very good breakfast that day.


Later we started to visit different parts of Canyonlands National Park. After few hours we decided Green River Overlook to be the most interesting part of the park (from photographic perspective) and stayed there for sunset. Light wasn't perfect, but I still hope to have few good pictures.
The day ended at the campground for the next night. This time night was a bit warmer and we somehow survived it more comfortable.

From Bryce to Canyonlands

In the morning just after finishing the sunrise photo session at Sunrise Point we left amazing Bryce Canyon. We decide to take road 12 through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Capitol Reef NP. This is very scenic road going through an interesting part of Utah. We saw some fields watered by machines that generated ice instead of water - quite surprising picture! I'm still wondering for what they do this kind of field icing? Maybe you know the answer?
In the Grand Staircase-Escalante there's very interesting waterfall on the Calf Creek - or even two waterfalls - upper and lower. We decided to take a trip to lower one, because seemed to be easier. Going there is worth every minute and every bead of sweat. What you see at the end of the trails is really wonderful! We took many pictures of the waterfall from different angles - after filling all memory cards decided to get back to the car and finally go to the Dead Horse Point State Park where we had reservation at campground. It took us almost the whole day, but we arrived just in time for sunset photo session at Dead Horse Point Overlook.
In the dark we set up our tent on pad number 4. Of course nobody is working here so late, so we had to do everything ourselves: pay entrance fee, register at campground, set up tent, etc. After quick supper we reviewed our plans for the next day and it turned out that we don't have enough fuel - unfortunately nearest gas is in Moab - 32 miles away. We decide to go there to buy some gas and some food for next few days. We returned to the campground really late and on our way back almost hit the black cow on the black road in the pitch black night - cows are everywhere here, because there's open range.
We sleep in the tent - it is whorishly cold and I have to sleep in all what I have - night temperatures were for sure below 32F. We somehow survived the night and almost 2 hours before dawn we headed to famous Mesa Arch for morning photo session.

The Subway

This morning we've started probably the most challenging trail during Photo Trip 2008 - The Subway. It requires special permit and is a part of Zion National Park. Main goal on this trail is to see the famous Subway - kind of a tunnel created by water in a solid rock (picture on the left). Unfortunately seeing this wonder requires some effort. In all guides it's written that you need about 7-9 hours to go to the Subway and back. It took us about 10 hours, but we had at least one hour standing in cold water and photographing.
It turned out that spring is not a very good season for visiting Subway - water in the creek is too high and everything is more difficult.
All good pictures I've seen were taken during autumn - it was no water in the most interesting part of the creek. Now it was a lot of water and it was very cold. But we had no choice - go now or never - we decided to go this spring. From photographic point of view it wasn't perfect decision, but trail is really difficult and interesting, so we are happy that we've done it and are still alive.
I think I'll be back there one day - that time for sure in autumn.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes

Coral Pink Sand Dunes is small State Park located between roads 89 and 389 near Kanab.
Because I've seen a lot of nice pictures from this place, we decided that it could be a good opportunity for photographing. Unfortunately life is different than belief. Until now it's the most disappointing place on our trip. Dunes itself are really very interesting and their color in the evening sun reminds different shades of pink. But in the category of photographic opportunity I would give 0 points to this place. That's because here is America and dunes are for everyone (except photographers!) - it means you can ride over them with quads and damage everything what wind created. So finally you have nice dunes with even nicer traces of quad's tires. What's worse walking on the dunes can be dangerous - quads are everywhere and sometimes can collide with people - it's crazy idea. It should be designated area for quads and rest of dunes should be left for people and photographers, but american people think different. What a pity...

Toroweap

It's dawn. We've just clambered out of our tent and came here - to the edge of the Canyon. This place is known as Toroweap and if you want to see a real Grand Canyon you should definitely come here. Currently Toroweap is a part of Grand Canyon National Park, but as opposed to South or North Rim, it's only for privileged people. Why it's like that? Because access to this wonderful area is very difficult. You have to cover about a 56 miles of unpaved road and last 5 miles of very bumpy and rocky road. It's recommended to have a high clearance SUV for this (although I heard of people coming here with classic cars - I don't believe this after seeing the road with my own eyes) and of course spare tire and tire repair kit is a must.
We came here from Fredonia and it took us about 2.5 hours to get to the camping that is very primitive and has only few designated places for cars and tents - it's according to the rule first come, first served, so if you come late, you could have an option to get back to Fredonia or Kanab. We were lucky and found probably the last place to camp. Just after that we've prepared a kind of dinner for both of us and later went to the edge to take some pictures of sunset at Toroweap. What we've seen there was like a dream. Water about 1 km directly below us standing on the edge of fragile rock - very captivating and unusual view! I don't think there's another place like this in the whole Grand Canyon. Actually that's why we spent about 2 hours taking pictures and what's worse we filled almost all of memory cards. Of course another 3 hours of taking pictures we spent in the morning, but dawn light is much more difficult to photograph and I don't count on having even one good shot. But we'll see - there's always hope.
I'd like to mention another interesting story about Toroweap - we've just read that since Toroweap became part of Grand Canyon National Park, 5 people fell down off the rock. It's strange because rocks seem to be quite stable and secure, but who knows?
Now it's time to leave this little paradise and head to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, then prepare for a visit in Zion National Park. See u soon...

Antelope Canyon

Yesterday we visited amazing Antelope Canyons near Page, AZ. First thing in the morning we went to Lower Antelope Canyon - it's hole in the middle of the desert that you have to get in. Bottom of this rock formation is narrow and up is a bit wider, so there's a lot of light, but walking through the canyon is difficult. Sometimes we had to use ladders and took down backpacks to fit into the holes. Although it was hard to find place to set up the tripod, we somehow managed to do it. Unfortunately it seemed to be very crowded and even when we set up tripods it took ages to wait for the moment when nobody was in the field. Later it appeared that Lower Antelope was virtually not crowded at all - comparing to Upper Antelope. Somehow we took few pictures and left the canyon for Upper Antelope Phototour reserved with Antelope Canyon Tours . This was special photographic tour lasting 2 hours and dedicated to people focusing only on taking pictures.
Open truck took us from the parking near the office and transported directly to the Upper Antelope entrance. What I saw there was frustrating - about 15 other trucks - about 12 people in every of them - it means over 200 people in the canyon at once! Unbelievable!
I figured out our mistake - it was Saturday and all the people came here at the same time! The only thing that was good for us was the time of the tour - 2 hours instead of 30 minutes that regular tours last. Ok, we entered the canyon with indian guide and started photographing this petrified sand dune created by water and wind. And suddenly we realized that it's impossible to take even single good picture! It was so crowded that you couldn't find a place for tripod, not mentioning to plan any good shot. We had two hours and didn't take too many pictures in this time, because of people and nature of light. After all see it yourself...

The Wave - 8th Wonder of the World!

I still can't believe that, but we were there - in The Wave or Coyote Buttes North. This pristine and beautiful place is located in Paria Canyon - Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area - about 45 miles NW from Page. To get there you need to obtain some permit in advance (10 person a day limit!) or try your luck and get walk-in permit (another 10 person a day). Permits are available from BLM.
After getting to the WirePass parking we left our car and started short hike. Trail is not very well marked or even it's not marked at all, so we had to rely on our GPS device and maps we received from BLM. Maps are interesting, because they consists of 8 or 9 pictures of the trail and it really helps. Traditional maps would be useless here. After few hours of walking this short distance we finally arrived to famous Wave formation. It took us so long not because it's hard trail - its difficulty is average, sometimes you have to cross deep sandy paths, other times you go up on slippery rocks - we were just stopping very often to take another picture. The whole trail from the parking to The Wave has about 5 km one way.
What we've seen was breathtaking! Mix of twisted, colorful rocks - it looks like unsuccessful try of preparing dough for a cake by some giant! Unimaginable experience. I don't know how to describe it better, so would like to show you some pictures...

Welcome back home!

Finally we caught flight at 5:30 as last two passengers getting on board. Even lady with confirmed reservation that came literally seconds after us, was not lucky enough to get onboard, because it was after the final call. Sometimes we've luck!
It was another 4 hours in tight cabin of Boeing aircraft, but I somehow survived and finally arrived to Phoenix half past six local time (that is Warsaw-9). And we had even more luck - Weather here turned out to be great and we got nice car, but this is another story...
I've to say again that Alamo is really a good car rental company. They just didn't have Standard SUV as we reserved (that's bad), so guy at the desk, after short negotiations, gave us nice, orange Hummer H3 (that's good)! Wow, what a car! I've never though, even in my dreams, that'll have a chance to drive such a car. During my last visit in Las Vegas got Ford Mustang and now Hummer - still can't belive that.


But our happiness and luck was short. After reaching hotel it appeared that wireless Internet is just broken and I can't publish my posts today :( What's even worse, in the neighbouring hotel Super8, WiFi had such a weak signal strength that I couldn't connect. My practice in US is to catch the signal around any hotel, but this time it failed. Now I've to wait and find some good working Internet around here - just America - technologically developed but not everywhere...On the other hand I feel here like home, so can't still grumble...

Headlamp for the trip

On Saturday I went to Sherpa store and bought a headlamp for the trip. I hoped to buy some more stuff, but they hadn't good choice of backpacks or shoes and finally I left the shop with only headlamp. I decided to take Petzl Tikka XP. This small and flexible headtorch is able to work in 5 modes: economic, optimum, maximum, boost beam and flashing mode. In economode you can use it for up to 120h as Petzl informs on their webpage. But what was the most important in decision taking was its weight - this lamp is very light and weights only 95g.
Yesterday I had a practical chance to make a baptism of fire. It was rare situation when blackout happened in my part of the city and for about an hour I hadn't power in my flat. First thing I did was to unpack the new headlamp, put batteries and start using it! It was great - I could walk through my home with lamp on my head and have to say it's great solution not only for trips to deserted regions of the world, but also for everyday situations. It definitely passed the test and is ready for the trip!

Only few days left!!! Help!

Only few days left for the long awaited PhotoTrip 2008. This is good and not so good. Good because it's soon, and bad because I still don't have some pieces of required equipment. But ok - it's not a very big problem - will visit some stores today and buy what I need. Fortunately photo backpack appeared to be a very good choice and proofed its advantages in Spain.
Yesterday I received few photo books ordered at Amazon. When we have such good exchange rate for PLN/USD I can't resist buying stuff in US - books and CDs are so cheap - it would be a sin not to buy them! So I ordered some at the end of March and they've just arrived. Three of them (National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography, Working the Light: A Photography Masterclass, The Photographer's Guide to Filters) are really good, and one (John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide) is a little misunderstanding. No, it's not completely bad - it's just not what I've expected. I recommend this book for complete beginners, although actually I should also learn something from it.
I must definitely praise Guide to Landscape Photography book - it focuses on southwest pictures and is very detailed on technique and compositions. I hope to learn a lot from this book and I dream of taking similar pictures one day. If you would like to become a landscape photographer, you must have this book - it's like a bible.
Along with books I received two CD discs not available in Poland. One is Bela Fleck & The Flecktones containing very good song Sinister Minister and the other is Randy Waldman's UnReel. Both discs are nice if you like this jazz genre. I hope one day we'll be able to buy such titles in Poland and prices will be as low as they're in the US now. CD for less than 30 PLN is something that can help avoid piracy. If you really like the title, you can afford buying it for 30 PLN - I'm sure.
Now I focus on what should I buy in States while USD/PLN exchange ratio is so favorable. Maybe house in Florida? You can have big, good, new house in Cape Coral from 100.000 USD - it's only about 220.000 PLN, so it's like 1/10 of a similarly sized flat in Warsaw! Unfortunately I can't just buy house and move to Florida, but I can have it there and go for a vacation every year or even twice a year, then share it with my friends throughout the rest of the year. Isn't it a nice idea? And when prices rise some day, I'll sell the house and get my money back. Ok - it's just a theoretical considerations, but there's something in it...

Trip to Andalusia

As I mentioned few days ago I'm on my way to go to Andalusia very soon! I've just "bought" my tickets for miles and it's even sooner. We (I'll go there with my wife) will have 3 full days for visiting such a nice places as Marbella, Ronda, Gibraltar, Sevilla and maybe Cadiz. It's too much for such a short trip, but I treat it as a kind of reconnaissance. It means I plan to get back there in the future for a bit longer and maybe take my children with us.
Besides, there'll be a good opportunity to check some of the photo equipment before "Phototrip". Moreover Canon has just announced a photo competition called CANON, THE ASSIGNMENT and I've registered. It means I should have a good (or even better :) picture before 1st of May to upload and have a chance to win. It's not easy task, but I'll do my best!
It's also first time I should be able to report my daily activities from the trip - good try before "Phototrip". Hope I'll have Internet access en Espana. You'll see more pictures then, because now this blog seems to be a bit boring...

Below is the map of planned trip:

View Larger Map

Few more secrets revealed

You might not be interested, but I've just decided that it's time to tell you more about our planned "Photo Trip 2008".
Most important thing is our destination. It's the place we both were in a few times. But as we hope, this time will be exceptional. All our efforts we would like to spend solely on photography. Of course it will also require a lot of hiking, because we want to visit less known places that are not accessible by car.
The area I'm writing about lies in the West of the States, so it's not very close to Poland. But what I can say is, that if you go there once, you will be probably returning till the end of your life - at least I have such a feeling. And what's worst, all the people I know and were there, have similar opinion. So it must be something in it.
It has passed almost a year since we've started planning this journey. Everything begun in March 2007 when we were at the Biebrza River for a small weekend phototrip. It was really nice experience and opportunity to share memories of previous USA trips. We thought "Why don't we go to States just for pure photography trip?". Answer was simple - money! It costs a lot and we are not millionaires. Fortunately USD/PLN exchange rate started to change and getting beneficial for us. In September or October we made a final decision - we will go there at the turn of April and May 2008. So it's only about 50 days left to the beggining of our trip. And I still have time to share more details with you... if you're interested of course :)

Below one of pictures from our trip to Biebrza river:

First entry...

Hello everyone!
At last I've decided to start my own blog. I think it's a good idea to set up some rules at the beginning.
So I'll write my blog in English or Spanish. No, not because I'm native English or Spanish speaker! I'm native polish speaker and that's why I have to continously improve my ability to communicate in these languages. Besides if this blog will be in english, more people will have a chance to read this, but of course speaking honestly - blogs are usually for the author, not for the readers :)
Now, let's explain why I decided to start blogging. Main reason is that me and my very good friend are preparing our first "Photo Trip". It's very important event for both of us and we spent a lot of time in the preparation process. I came up with the idea, that it would be nice to share our experience with others. The easiest way to share is to have a blog. Of course I don't want to stick to this very narrow topic - I will also write about my professional experience - it is IT business and other gadgets and stuff.
I want to keep my entries short, so that's all for today. Or no! I would like to ask you one favour - please, please, please fix all my grammar or vocab mistakes! This is the only way I can fix my ability to use foreign languages. Please! Thank you!