Clichés

A few cliché photos from Arizona for you. Only another 1200 or so to process


I won't bore you with them all I promise!

First a few from the Grand Canyon








I didn't take the Bigma - but I wish I had, if only to try and get a good picture of the California Condors over the Canyon rim.




The weather on our first day at the Canyon did not at all what we expected:




the same weather as the last time we went, in March 2002.

And maybe the ultimate cliché photo - the mittens at Monument Valley




All taken with Pentax Ds and either the kit lens or Tamron 28-300. It was a shame I couldn't get an 18-250 - it would have saved a lot of lens changing and gunk on the sensor!

1195 to go then

Im quite happy to see them .. I think these are really good.

What do you think of your Tamron 28-200, I have one plus a Tamron 24-135 and was thinking of getting rid of the larger zoom in favour of the 55-300 Pentax now it is out.
Only thing is the Tamron has a reasonable 1:3 macro mode.

Thankyou!

My Tamron is an old, non digital, one. I am happy with it but it is nothing special. I have used it a lot, and taken some good photos with it, but I may go for the Pentax 55-300mm when I upgrade my camera depending on the reports I read. I use the 300mm range quite a bit, but the 18-250mm may be the one I go for, just because it is such a good travel lens. I wish I had the money for both! As I said it was a shame I couldn't get the 18-250 whilst in the US.

Gwyn,

if that is boring then I say: Bore me!
Arizona is certainly on our list of places to visit, so that makes your shots even more interesting for me.

Seems like this really is an amazing landscape...
I especially like the light in #3, wouldn't enjoy #4 (when was that?). I think the first 5 were very interesting so I'm looking forward to the rest...

Prieni

#4 was May 14th 2008. We stayed the night in Williams prior to going to GC and staying on the rim for a night, The took everyone by surprise, leaving about 15cm off the stuff around, which the snowploughs quickly cleared from the roads. There was little snow at the rim when we got there - though the paths into the canyon were icy we were told. Since we were still jet lagged, and suffering from the altitude we didn't attempt any thing more strenuous than the rim walk.
We had snow again later in the holiday, in New Mexico, for a short period too. However it was over 40C for a couple of days just before we left!

What is wrong with cliches? Things only become cliches because they are essentially good ideas

I very much agree with this.

Not only that, but it's all very well for the Ben Kanareks of this world to major on creativity and individual self-expression, but they say that from a place where they've already learned to both 'see' photographically, and 'do' the necessary technical stuff.

I find it plenty hard enough to recreate the clichés, and when I achieve that reasonably satisfactorily it feels like quite an achievement.

If I had to start by being 'creative', as well as getting all the technical stuff right, I'd never get anywhere, since the bar would be just too high. We all have to start somewhere.

Once or twice, I've criticised a photo on the grounds of it being a clichéd idea, but I think now that I was wrong to do so. It may or may not be a cliché; but done well, it's still of value, and a stepping stone to greater achievements.

A musician (I forgot who) once said that there was no such thing as hackneyed music, just hackneyed performances.

So even if a picture is a cliche, the important thing is whether it is done well.

G

Well I hope these were done well, except the snow picture which was just a snapshot. I had the date wrong on that too - it was May 13th not 14th when I look at my notes - I didn't change the time on my camera to make geotagging easier when I got home.

It is very hard to come up with an original photo of either Grand Canyon or Monument Valley, especially when you are limited to only a day or two in which to get your shots, regardless of weather and lighting conditions.

Maybe I should have called the topic Classics instead

I particularly like the first one.

The orange of the foreground contrasts well with the pink of the background; as does the sharpness with the haze. These combine to give a strong sense of depth, despite there being nothing that gives away a sense of scale.

The Grand Canyon is certainly one of the most amazing places I've ever been to.

Visually it's very hard to relate to without walking at least some of the way down, and when you realise that the far rim is ten miles away, it's a mile deep, and that little narrow stream at the bottom is actually 300 yards wide, it doesn't get any easier to take in what you're seeing.

I hasten to say that these WERE done well.

G