… at the meeting of a small group of photographers I was at last night, one of the members showed a photogrraph of the Little Colorado River taken from in the river that I had never seen before … it was beautiful and I bought it. With permission from the photographer I will share a small size image and his contact information with you in case you are looking for a terrific shot too. Going to have the print displayed with one of my aerial shots of the Confluence and the Little Colorado river.
So I went through a lot of my shots of the area today and came up with these two that I like. The top shot gives you an overview of the top part of the Grand Canyon and both north and south rims. The Colorado River runs up the left side of this image and by Desert Outlook about 12 miles down river from here and then turns to the right. The South Rim appears above the North Rim because of my altitude … the North Rim is actually about a thousand feet above the South Rim.
The Confluence of the Little Colorado River and the Colorado River is where Marble Canyon ends and the Grand Canyon begins … the plateau that extends into the top image from the left side of the photo is Cape Solitude and it is accessible by vehicle.
The lower photo is a shot I took zoomed in to a 70mm focal length. On the Colorado River towards the the center below the island you can see two rafts that are beached so the rafters can get out and enjoy the place before they enter the Grand Canyon and continue the journey down river. I like this part of the canyon because I can go as low as 10,000′ (river is about 2200′) where if I go about a mile down stream from here I have to be at a minimum of 14,500′ and that diminishes the quality of the images I get to the point it isn’t worth taking the shot … as it is I am about a mile and a half above the river .. 2.5 miles above it is too much.
The water in the Little Colorado River is a turquoise blue due to the highly mineralized water that enters the river about 12 miles upstream from Blue Springs which puts 210 cubic feet of water per second into the river. You only get the turquoise water when there is no water flowing from upstream of the springs … when there is water flowing from up stream it is very muddy and looks like a very fine milk chocolate 🙂
Have a beautiful day, look for the beauty that surrounds you … it is there, you just have to look for it.
Cheers,
Ted
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The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
More about Ted Grussing …