RE: [Leica] Grand Canyon lens?

["Steve Unsworth" <mail@steveunsworth.co.uk>]

Ted

I've had a very similar feelings when photographing Santorini in Greece.
Getting an 'ok' photograph is incredibly easy, but taking a 'wow' type
photograph has always evaded me (before my last visit I bought a 17-35mm
zoom for a Pentax auto-focus camera and still didn't succeed). Snow might be
a little difficult to arrange :-)

Steve

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Ted Grant
Sent: 03 June 2001 23:22
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] Grand Canyon lens?


Steve Barbour wrote
>>> > > I just returned from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon where
> > > I used a number of lenses, the widest being a 24mm Elmarit
> > > f 2.8...a lens that I love. Of course, the question I had
> > > concerned the theroretical best ultra wide lens for such a
> > > dramatic landscape.
> > >
> > > I'd appreciate your thoughts/experience about the "best"
> > > ultra-wide angle for this terrain... with minimum distortion,
> > > able to grasp the immensity and the perspective?<<<<<

Dave responded:
>>> Ooh, a big fat one down the middle of the plate. Swing away, Ted! :-)<<<

Steve wrote::  Uh oooooh... <<<< :-)
>>Uh oooooh... do I sense  a line drive coming right back at the
pitcher...?!<<<<

 Man I love it when the door is opened so beautifully! ;-) Don't you just
love it, thanks Steve. :-)

Hi Steve, it's coming right back at you ! ;-0  However, nicely.:-)

I tried to shoot the Grand Canyon last year and it's such an awe inspiring
location I think it's impossible to do it justice to it's full extent in one
still photograph. Yep I've seen some nice overalls, lots of bits and pieces
of smaller canyons, rock faces, holes here there and everywhere.

But I've never seen one that takes your breath away as viewing the original
item. I had the good fortune to be there in a snow storm which gave some
completely different looks to the place which worked nicely because I used
the snow covered trees in the foreground to frame the canyon below.

My first reaction to the snow storm was depressing, I just wanted to get out
of there as it wasn't snow I came for, in effect, the snow was a blessing in
disguise. Otherwise I would probably have come away with the same old
sunshine type images that looked like all the other Grand Canyon pictures we
see.

What lens to use? I have to say that's a toughie simply because if you use a
wide or super wide you must have some strong compositional element in the
foreground to add to the enormity of the what lies before you.

When you first walk up to the edge and look out at this magnificent sight I
imagine you reacted as I did,  "Look at that, my God it's enormous!" Camera
comes up you go click! And if this is the case, trust me it ain't going to
do anything but give you a happy snap of the biggest hole in the ground
you'll ever see. :-) I did it a few times just like a tourist and they're
fine as snap shots of the trip to the Canyon.

But it ain't going to work as one of your all time 10 best photographs, as
all you'll have is a picture of this big hole in the ground without anything
in the foreground to give it scale to it's immensity. It's easy to do
magical awe inspiring images of the place that will grab family and friends,
but to blow an astute editor away and editors being what they are many of
them have seen the a"ultimate Grand Canyon picture, or thye think they have
if they haven't stood there in awe.

Yep you can shoot all kinds of  "wow" pictures, hell that's easy, simply
because they are in your face everytime you look in a different direction.
It's capturing them so they effect the viewer in the same manner you the
photographer was effected standing right at the edge!

I used my R15 for most of the better images due to the framing I like to do
in this kind of location to increase the depth look and scale for a more
effective photo.

So next time Steve it's a 15 for sure, besides if you're in the belly of the

Canyon the 15 will really work wonders down there.

One thing Id like to do some day is have a helicopter at my disposal with
all the National Park and FAA flying regulations put aside so we could go
wherever we wanted within safety, being able to hang out there in the middle
somewhere between top and bottom of the canyon and just move along looking
through the view finder for maximum impact pictures.

A nice idea, never happen. So like everyone else I'll work off the top edges
with a super wide and strong foregrounds for extra impact. :-)  So there you
go Steve that wasn't too bad. ;-)
ted.










































Ted Grant Photography Limited
www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "" <kididdoc@home.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 9:44 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Grand Canyon lens?


> Uh oooooh... do I sense  a line drive coming right back at the
pitcher...?!
> Steve
>
> > Steve Barbour <kididdoc@home.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Ooh, a big fat one down the middle of the plate. Swing away, Ted! :-)
> >
> > -Dave-
>
>
>