2010 Arizona State Fair

October in Arizona is State Fair Time.  We are lucky this year in that the temperatures have been under 90 for the most part.  Some years are real scorchers.

The fair has free entertainment acts in the evenings, a huge midway with rides and games, entry exhibits from quilts to live cattle, and food carts of every type imaginable.  The eye is assaulted with vivid colors at every turn.

This year I entered the Small Color Photograph Division of the professional photography exhibit.  This is juried show that featured Arizona Highway magazine staffers as the judges.  I entered 4 photographs and all were selected for hanging.  One of my photos won the Arizona Resident award in this division.  The 4 photos are posted below.

Larry's Rock at the Grand Canyon.  I have been taking photos of this rock and tree for nearly 20 years now.  It looks different each time.

 Mather Point at the Grand Canyon.  This photo was taken with a 50 year old Rolfix roll film camera that shoots 120 film.

Black Necked Stilt taken at the Gilbert Arizona Riparian Park.  This photo is the one that won the Arizona Resident Award.

A Tree At Toroweap.  The Toroweap area is in the far western part of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I had an interesting encounter with a llama at the fair.  I was concentrating on shooting a llama calf when I was suddenly covered with bits of hay and a little liquid.  My daughter burst out laughing.  A llama had spit on me.  I had read about this behavior.  A photo of the miscreant appears below.

Coming up next are photos of the wild and woolly colors to be seen at the Fair.

No trip to the fair would be complete without eating "something".  We shared funnel cake and lemonade and then finished filling up on BBQ sandwiches.

The Grand Canyon

For a geologist, the Grand Canyon is a place calling out for a visit.  There you can see rock layers that represent more than a billion years of history.  My wife and I try to make at least two visits a year.  Each time we go we see the canyon differently.  Sometimes its clear.  Sometimes its cloudy.  Sometimes it snows.  The sun rises and sets in different locations depending on the season.  

The South Rim is where most of the visitors end up.  It is about a 70 mile drive north of Flagstaff, AZ.  The South Rim is open for visitation all year long.  There is a nice selection of hotels and inns both within and right outside the park boundary in Tusyan.  

Our first visit together was in 1970.  We stayed in one of the Bright Angel Lodge cabins.  The room tab at that time was $13.00.  Today the same cabin costs over $100.00.  

The North Rim is only 10 miles as the crow flies from the South Rim.  By road it is nearly 225 miles.  The North Rim has only one lodge.  The North Rim, because it is over 1000 feet higher in elevation, gets much more snow and the road to the North Rim is closed from October until May.

South Rim Photos:
Condor in the air.

 Snowfall on the South Rim.

 The view UP from Plateau Point.

 Bright Angel Lodge duplex cabin.

 Rainbow at Mather Point.

 Thunderstorm over South Rim.

 Desert Watchtower at eastern part of the South Rim.

 Brachiopod along the West Rim Trail.

 Partway down the South Kaibab Trail.

 Solitude on the South Rim.

 

Lets Get Started

I have been taking photos since I was about 12 years old.  I started with a folding Kodak Tourist camera that used 620 film.  In high school I processed through such lovely cameras as a Brownie Hawkeye.  In college I bought a Kodak Pony 828 which used 35mm film with a paper backing.  Later I bought a Pentax Spotmatic camera with a really good 50mm, f1.4 lens.  That was my camera until I bought a motorized, auto-focus Minolta 3Xi with a zoom lens.


In 2000 I bought my first digital camera for the occasion of the birth of my first grandson.   I bought my first digital SLR, a Canon XT, in 2006 and upgraded to a Canon 50d in 2008.  


Here are some shots from the early cameras.