Thanka Vieri for posting...outstandingly beautiful shots. I am about to do a similar journey myself in Sept (but for me, 10 days of driving and shooting starting at Yosemite, Hoover/Vegas, Page/Antelope, Grand Canyon/Williams), may I ask a few questions:
1. What bag did you use to carry the equipment? Did you pull out stuff you need and put it in a day bag for the hiking and walking?
2. Did you take special precautions against dust? I understand the dust can tend to be very fine, and will get everywhere. I am using a H3D-39 (not II), and the back is fan cooled.
3. Any tips for the trip? Anything at all, appreciate even pit stops, diners, restaurants, etc, but also most of all timings for the superb light.
Hello Chong,
thank you for posting and for your words - glad you enjoyed the shots! As far as your questions:
1. I use a Lowepro Pro Trekker 300; with the kind and the amount of equipment I took with me (you can see it at the beginning of the first post), I couldn't possibly take a smaller bag for daily use. A technical camera is not as "ready to shoot" as a DSLR or a MF camera, in its assembled configuration it is hardly baggable especially if you use (as I did) a sliding back adaptor. What I did, when moving between places close to one other, was to leave it assembled on a tripod and walk with the tripod;
2. I tried to be careful with dust; I haven't had a problem with it except in Antilope, especially Upper Antilope: there I would strongly recommend to reduce lens change to a minimum, and to find a way to shield the fan cooler to minimize the amount of dust it will suck into your DB;
3. Well, not knowing you and what you do or do not like, your eating habits, your budget and such it's difficult to suggest diners or restaurants; on top of that, in many places the choice is pretty much limited to one or two places... On the other hand, I never run the risk to be hungry at the end of the day: you can always find food and gas, the latter I'd recommend to fill your tank when you see a station, and try not to go below half tank without refilling - again, I never had problems, but in places gas stations are not so common. As far as timing for the light, well - I will not be very original here I guess
Best light is from 1h before sunset to 1h after, depending of course on subjects etc, and again 1h before sunrise to 1h after; generally speaking of course - YMMV according to where you are and what you shoot. You can also put late afternoon light to a good use, and for detail & macro even midday light will be fine. For Antilope, midday is the only light, and I would recommend you take the "Photographers tour", not the regular one.
Hope this helped, have fun with your trip!