Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/10/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Adam, Both photos are quite nice, the iPhone does a fine job. Gene ----- Original Message ----- From: "Adam Bridge" <abridge at gmail.com> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> Sent: Monday, October 11, 2010 9:08:19 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: [Leica] IMG: Monument Valley from 35,000' I don't write things like this here very often but today was so amazing I felt I had to share. We had an amazing flight today. Even the pre-sunrise drive to the airport (okay, a somewhat stressful drive since we over-slept by 30 minutes and had to scurry) was glorious with the Sierra sharply silhouetted against the pale dawn. Leaving Sacramento we climbed out over the Sierra, crossing the eastern escarpment just north of Tioga Pass, all of Yosemite and Hetchhetchi layed out before us. Then the town of Lee Vining beside Mono Lake with the Owens Valley stretching southward, then Death Valley from the east, the long sun angles really revealed the landforms: the dunes at Furnace Creek were amazing. Even the descent into Las Vegas was gorgeous although the horrors of development by mountain-top removal, was distressing. But that was all chicken feed compared to the flight from Las Vegas to Baltimore. We departed to the west, circling the Strip (I think it's mandatory by the Chamber of Commerce) before heading out over Lake Mead. The new bridge just south of Hoover Dam has its complete shape. I couldn't tell if it's open for use, though. We flew the length of Lake Mead (which is down many feet) and then began to skirt the northern extent of the Grand Canyon. I have never flown over this territory before and the variety of land-forms and color was amazing to me. We were clearly able to pick up the highway from Jacobs Lake (which we nearly flew over) with its long valleys, and then the eastern-most extent of the Canyon and then the merely amazing cut of the Colorado from Lees Ferry through Marble Canyon. We even enjoyed the escarpment of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument with US 89(alt) running at its base. Fabulous! But then I knew we would see Monument Valley - and there it was. I awoke from my exclaiming to Jan - oh look at that - grabbed my iPhone and shot a few images. It's different from 35,000' but wow - it's still impressive. <http://adam-bridge.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Monument-Valley-Ariel/14151390_NqvKF#1043966285_LytUz-A-LB> You should get both images easily through the links. One was shot in iPhone "HDR" mode, the other is more conventional. The colors seem quite true. The light was vivid. We also flew over Mexican Hat and the Goosenecks, then the Four Corners, saw Ship Rock off to the south-east, then (just because) we got Mesa Verde, Cortez Colorado and then the Rockies themselves that were in full color with aspen forests mixed in with the pines. Amazing! Clouds then covered up the Midwest until we reached the Appalachians. The eastern range had good color but it was partially obscured by a low thin cloud layer. As we descended into Baltimore we got a fine tour of the city before landing at BWI from the north about an hour before sunset. A truly amazing flight. Best to all! Adam _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information