I won't enter this into the Mini Challenge as they are about 2 weeks old.  But I did want to share them and lets face it, it'll help keep the front page going. 

I have never done any landscape photography so this was basically my first try.  I unfortunately didn't put my wide angle on the camera as I was hoping for "wildlife" so had my 70-300 on. There was NO wildlife so to speak of.  Next time I'll take the wide w/me.  These were taken outside of Phoenix on a hike w/some of my family.  Warning-there are dirt spots in a couple of the shots.

parents and brother leaving the photographer behind

landscape 1

landscape 2

couldn't post w/out a bird :-)

You folks w/a better screen, let me know if I over processed these-originals came out drab so had to do some tweeking.  Comments and critique always welcome and appreciated.

Cheers!

I wasn't in Canada but Arizona.  While out walking one day we heard a lot of commotion going on.  Although I missed the fight, I was able to capture the Mr. coming back to the Mrs.  Guess a couple of unwanted visitors got to close.

 Can you run on water?

 Coming in for a landing

 yak yak yak

 What a climb

 Back with the Mrs.

Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy.

It only took me three weeks to get all these pictures, but it took me 3 months to get them all done.  Here are the last shots from my southwest trip. 

 canyon wall 4 (arches)  canyon wall 3 (arches)  canyon wall 2 (de chelly)  canyon wall 1 (de chelly) 
paranthesis for location of shot

 Canyon de Chelly 

If I feel a little spunky later in the week, I might upload some of the interesting things I got out of my diana from the trip, but for now the trip is officially over.  Thanks for all the wonderful feedback and critiques on all of my posts from this trip.  I hope you enjoyed looking at the west through my camera!

As I mentioned, you can't actually go down into the canyon without a navajo guide.  Luckily for us, we were staying with a very nice navajo who gave us a jeep tour for a very reasonable price.  Most of my pictures from the canyon floor were with my 35mm b&w (which I get to buy and mix up my chemicals develop today because it's the first day of my last semester), but I did take my digital and my 650mm lens in order to get some awesome shots of all the pictographs and petroglyphs.  I'm the only one of my group to have shots like these.  And I took a lot of them, but I'm only going to show two of the more interesting ones (in my opinion).

The White Priest

Battle (the shields are actually drawn on with gun powder)

And just as a bonus because I love the walls of the canyon so much:  Canyon Wall in b&w

Tomorrow, Utah and Arches!

A few more from the Canyon overlooks, but I have two today from the highest point in the canyon, Spider Rock.  Also taken while walking around the spider rock overlook were these creepy trees.  I found them and the on coming storm to evoke an unsettling mood.

And a bonus, my tent mate Jenna at one of the overlooks.

Some details from de Chelley in my next post and then we're moving on to Arches! Comments, critiques and suggestions taken with open arms.
Have a great weekend Everyone!

Unfortuntaley there's not a lot to Canyon de Chelley except the designated overlooks they provide for you.  Because it is Navajo land, there aren't many hiking trails that you can take and the only way to get to the canyon floor is with a navajo guide.  So sorry if these seem touristy, that's all they give you there.  But I thought a few were worth sharing.

Some Canyon Overlooks:  1    2    3    4

Tomorrow some more canyon overlooks... only I think they're just a bit different.  And I want to thank everyone who's been leaving such nice comments on all my other posts.  Keep 'em coming, any kind of comment is welcome!

My last post about 'Rails' was missing the 'Rails' ... Before there were 'rails' ...   So Ralph here are some real 'Rails' ... Some Desert 'Rails' from Arizona ...

A Bend in the 'Rail' ... Desert Rails 2   ... East Bound 'Rail' ... Desert Rails 3   ... 45 Miles per hour ... Desert Train 1   ... 45 Miles per hour 5 feet away ... Desert Train 2   ... Pretend Rails ... Desert Rails 1 ... Vegas Style

Portland, Oregon is a city divided by a river. There are eight bridges that tie it all together. This was taken shortly after take off from PDX. We stopped in L.A. to toss a few bodies off and pick up some fresh ones. This sunset is looking back West from somewhere over AZ.  Coming back West I had picked my seat on the side of the plane and had it all set up so I would be able to see the Grand Canyon. I really lucked out and the clouds broke just as we got over  The Canyon. One more shot of The Canyon.

If you are going to shoot while flying... Clean the window, keep your camera as close to the window as you can to cut unwanted reflections and use a U.V. or haze filter if you have one. Best shooting time as per normal for landscapes is early morning and late evening because of haze problems.

Did you know that with an average weight of 4.5 grams it would take 7,500,000 of These to equal the weight of a 737 with an average load on it?

Anyway here is the original shot, Can you guess where it is?

Here is and edited color version and here are some other

variations