My alarm went off at 4:00am sharp.

Though I didn’t feel like getting up, I was too excited about the potential of what would be happening that day to snooze the alarm for even one minute.

I quietly slipped out of the tent and started the car. Julianna sleep-walked to the car while I carefully moved Mordecai from the play-pin to his car seat, careful not to wake him up.

After zipping up the tent and making sure we had everything we needed for the day, we headed off through the darkness to our sunrise destination: Grandview Point on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon.

The Bigger Picture

In a short series of blog posts, I wanted to share with you the pros and cons of each location I photographed during our visit to the Grand Canyon, in context of landscape photography.

Before arriving at Grand Canyon, I had spent hours pouring over maps, reading articles, and watching YouTube videos. However, I still had so many questions.

Where were good spots for specifically photographing sunrise and sunset? At what exact locations would I be able to hike down into the canyon, even if only a short ways? Was it ok to enter the park before sunrise, and stay at sunset locations after dark? Where there places I could go that wouldn’t be crowded?

Since my last visit 19 years ago, I had heard a shuttle was now required for getting around . . . were there places I could go and park at the rim without the shuttle? Would I be able to walk around to find good angles and compositions at the rim, or would there be fences everywhere to prohibit that? Was there a trail along the entire South Rim?

There was only so much information I could find on maps and online. But after being on location at the South Rim for a few days, all my questions were quickly answered. I hope these next blog posts will be a help to anyone planning a visit to Grand Canyon, especially if you are wanting to walk away with stunning, landscape photos!

So, here’s a map of the different locations we visited.

This is a summarized view of the wealth of information that I have added to the Lenspiration Scouting Guide from our visit. I have written everything I could think of about photographing at the Grand Canyon under each pin, plus other pins that are not included in the above map.

Camping Outside the Park

As already described in this previous post, the place that we visited on the first evening was Desert View Watchtower. That particular location turned out to be a fantastic sunset location. You could see the sun over the canyon all the way down to the horizon, and the watchtower was illuminated in the beautiful light of golden hour.

And as you can see, we camped outside the park about 15min south of the Desert View Watchtower. There, in Kiabab National Forest, we could disperse camp for free. And I think that’s about the closest you can camp to the eastern section of the National Park in a designated, dispersed camping area.

Camping outside the National Park was one of the reasons we had to get up so early to be on-location for sunrise. A faint tinge of deep blue was just beginning to be noticeable in the sky as we approached the National Park entrance. The main question on my mind was, “Would the gate be open at 4:30 in the morning?”

There wasn’t a soul in sight. And there wasn’t a barricade in sight either! We drive right in without any issue.

If we hadn’t paid the entrance fee the evening before, they were banking on us paying at one of the Visitors Centers during the day. The honor system is amazing. Let’s keep it that way!

“Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool” (Proverbs 19:1).

First Impressions of Grandview Point

We drove on through the dark.

From my research, I was hoping that Grandview Point would be the best sunrise location closest to the East Entrance, and that it would be a location you could drive to without a shuttle. Would I be right?

I was right about the “without a shuttle” part! Over here on the eastern side of the National Park, there were no shuttles necessary. It’s not till you get over toward the South Entrance and destinations further west that you run into the need for a shuttle. Though there are plenty of tourists everywhere throughout the park, the eastern section here seemed much less populated.

It took us a lot longer than I expected to get to Grandview Point from the East Entrance. A full half hour. And sunrise was just about to break forth by the time we had arrived, parked, and made our game plan. Thankfully, we could keep things pretty simple this morning. Julianna and Mordecai would stay at the car and snooze while I explored the vicinity hunting for pictures.

With camera and tripod in hand, I walked to the overlook. It was actually pretty cold, my wind-breaker and hat greatly appreciated. The view was almost due east here, and the clouds were shaping up to be something fantastic!

Instead of standing at the overlook to snap the exact same photo that every tourist would take here, I decided to walk off the beaten path a bit to find something interesting to use as a foreground subject.

Thankfully, Grand Canyon is so large that I didn’t even have to worry about whether or not there would be “fences everywhere” preventing me from being able to explore different angles. At least, over here where it was less populated. There was a fence around the overlook, but other than that, there wasn’t a sign to stop me from going anywhere.

I suppose I was expected to use common sense. Let’s keep it that way! So, using common sense, I found a spot to set up that I figured not too many other people had photographed before me.

“For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged” (Proverbs 28:2).

The view to the east at this location is fantastic. Perfect for sunrise!

And at the place I was standing, I could even look behind me for a little bit of a view too. This is looking almost due south.

Amazingly, this location would also be good for sunset too. From the overlook, there’s a wide break in the trees that looks northwest. It’s not due west, but my guess is that it would still work for sunset.

A Grand Bonus

When a location offers opportunities for both sunrise and sunset, and it’s in a stunning location like the Grand Canyon, it’s already a natural candidate for a 5-star rating. But there is another attribute about this location that seals it’s 5-star score . . .

You can hike down into the canyon from here too!

After visiting the Grand Canyon for the first (and only) time 19 years ago, I’ve wanted to do some exploring just below the rim. Instead of photographing only perspective of looking down into the canyon, I’ve always wanted to capture shots of rock faces framing the canyon. Or trails winding down the sides of the cliffs.

At this location, you don’t have to hike very far to start getting those shots!

But be forewarned. The trail is not easy. It’s epic, but it’s not for everyone.

And if you ask me, it’s more than just a difficult trail. In places, I’d put it in the category of dangerous. In some spots, I felt the need to put my camera back into the bag so I could have both hands free to move along the rocks.

Initially, I was going to bring Julianna and Mordecai down with me later in the day. But after descending for only about 15min, I decided it was going to be too advanced for our young family.

As the sun moved up from the horizon, poking through the smokey skies, the photography opportunities from this trail were simply out of this world!

This last photo shows the view opening up to the northwest, a similar view from the rim, but so much more 3 dimensional, being from a lower perspective.

I decided not to venture any further than this spot. Up to this point, I couldn’t see the western view. But now that I had reached it, I looked at my watch. I needed to get back to the car to have breakfast. I had eaten all my snacks and I was getting hungry.

But I continued to take photos on my way back, especially with a telephoto lens, keeping an eye open for intimate shots of the three dimensional landscape as the clouds moved across the sky and shafts of light continued to spot the landscape.

Brushstrokes
Trail below Grandview Point Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Download as a free desktop background in the next Latest from Lenspiration update (subscribe)

Post-Sunrise Perspective

The sun was shining brightly now, above the bank of clouds that hovered on the horizon.

And it was getting hot, too. The landscape was changing dramatically, now that it was in full sunlight. More “normal”.

Before I made it to the rim, I noticed a fantastic foreground subject that was just beckoning to be photographed. It is these kind of shots that make me so grateful to have the freedom to move around and look for things that no one else may have evr photographed.

By the time I made it back to the trailhead, it felt like I had been gone all morning. But it wasn’t even yet 7am! The early bird truly does get the worm in the summer time.

While the trail was difficult, it was probably the most enjoyable part of that overlook, for me. Thankfully, though, you don’t have to be a hiker to enjoy that Grandview Point. It has a large parking lot, the overlook is wheelchair accessible (if I remember correctly) and the overlook offers great views in multiple directions.

Before putting the camera away, I took one final shot from the parking lot looking out toward the south, a little higher up than where I started my adventure earlier in the pre dawn light.

I was satisfied with the photos I was able to get that morning. Unlike the previous evening, I was feeling better about previsualizing scenes, noticing depth queues, and incorporating things in the foreground. Now it was time to regroup, have breakfast, and move on to the next activities of the day!

The sun was up. The light was contrasty. More tourists were showing up. But just because we were now surrounded by mid-day-light didn’t mean I was going to stop taking pictures!

In the next blog post, I’ll talk about the a location that worked well for mid-day photography. Plus, it was a spot that all three of us could enjoy together. But, only after dealing with an unexpected and unpleasant experience that would test our patience and bring into question whether the car rental company would be willing to return our security deposit.