Grand Canyon Photo Expedition

Photos and text byDavid Harris

David Harris was a member of the May 2002 Grand Canyon Workshop Expedition. This page contains some of his selected photographs from that trip.

Bighorn Ram

This magnificent animal seemed quite unimpressed by a raft of photographers blasting away in continuous high. I was a little slow getting to my camera so my selection of frames is limited, none are both well composed and critically sharp. I like this composition, regretably it suffers from camera shake and an 8 x 12 does not hold up to close scrutiny.

Dry Wash

This is a fairly complex composition held together by the repetition  of forms in the foreground vegetation, middle distance trees and distant canyon walls. I took care to keep the lovely green of the trees contained with the horizon of the canyon wall.

Dunes

I found these crosslit rippled dunes in late evening and worked quickly before the light faded. Several images were successful and it is difficult to choose one above others. This one has a strong foreground but is a little weak in the upper left.

Golden Wall

This is an example of a scene which presents itself quite frequently in the canyon; strongly lit upper walls and deep shade in the foreground. This one works (with the help of 2 stop ND graduated filter) because of the nice reflection in the foreground.  

Matkatamiba Canyon

I found this side canyon to be overwhelming in the number of photographic possibilities. It was difficult to choose among them in the short 2 or 3 hours we able to work there. I like this photograph because of the soft glowing light and because the small trees confuse the scale and tend to magnify the already massive rocks.

White Leaves- Red Wall

The eccentric composition was initially to exclude chaos just out of frame left. I think it works because the strangeness of the bleached white plant is reinforced by the expanse of red wall.

© 2002 David Harris