Canyon Photography Weekend 22-23 December 2018

I headed up the mountains with Albert for a weekend of photography in some of the sandstone canyons. We first visited Rocky Creek Canyon, then went to The River Caves Canyon and finished with the Grand Canyon.

Rocky Creek Canyon

The weather was  fairly cool and partly cloudy. This meant low humidity – nice conditions for walking, but perhaps not the best for nice atmospheric photos in the canyons. The lighting turned out to reasonably soft, and if part of the canyon was burnt out by sunlight -then if we waited for cloud to pass over the Sun, then we would get softer lighting. But it would also mean less nice reflected light and virtually no sun-beams.  But it is always nice to get out and visit the canyons.

The Grand Canyon

As we left the car on both the days – the air temperature was only around 14°C, but the canyons themselves seemed no cooler than they would be on a much hotter day.

We both took tripods and most of our photos were longer exposures. Here are some of the photos –

Rocky Creek Canyon

We saw a few other parties in the canyon – including friends Tam and Cotter.

The River Caves Canyon

This is very close to Rocky Creek, being in one of its tributaries – but it took some driving to get there. I had that recently the Mt Cameron Track (road) to the Natural Bridge had been graded, including the creek crossing that bypasses the loop out to Deep Pass North. So – we went that way – but almost got bogged in the creek crossing. We had to reverse, then return and go via the higher route. We were in Albert’s Subaru AWD.

We walked down to the upstream entrance to the canyon with overnight gear. We camped in a large overhang near the creek. That gave up the opportunity to visit the canyon in the later afternoon, then at night and again the next morning. The night visit was to see glow-worms – but the display was not that impressive. Perhaps due to a very dry year?

Afternoon Visit

Night Visit

We used torches to light paint the canyon.

Morning Visit

The Grand Canyon

We then travelled to Blackheath were we stopped for lunch and then headed down to the Grand Canyon via Neates Glen. This was a very pleasant afternoon.

Thanks to Albert for the driving and suggesting the trip.