I was invited to go to Grand Falls, Arizona back in March with friends Pete Pallagi and Nate Pallace. Pete and Nate are staff photographers at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ.
Pete was the tour guide since Nate and I have never been to Grand Falls before. I’ve seen tons of pictures of the place but I had no idea where it is or how to get there. Pete’s been there many times and guided us right to the spot in spite of the fact theirs know signs guiding you in. For the most part, this is a primitive area deep into the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona.
It was great for several reasons! It was completely void of government intervention. No park service, therefore no entry fee’s, no designated parking lots, no fences, no maintained trails, no signs, no rules. Imagine that, leaving it up to us to leave the place as we found it. Refreshing!
It’s been a while since I’ve been on a photo trip so I greatly appreciated the opportunity. I’ve been so focused on my photography business that my personal work has been reduced to practically zero. So this was a little photo vacation for me in a way. Interestingly this was a day trip. From Phoenix we were there in maybe three and half hours.
About the photo’s. These are all digital. My camera was a Canon 5D Mark III. I used a 24 to 70 f-2.8 zoom lens for most of it. I also used a neutral density filter to get the water slightly blurred. The ND filter allowed me to shoot; ISO100 shutter speed of 1/8 of a second with an aperture of f-22. For me, I like the water slightly blurred. It gives the a sense of motion.
