Last Light On Wotan's Throne
Last Light On Wotan's Throne
The wind was howling by the time David Columbo and I made it to Cape Royal last Saturday. We still had two hours to kill until sunset, so we headed out to the end of the trail to scope out some possible shots of Wotan's Throne. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were the only two people crazy enough to jump the rails and walk out to the edge. After testing some different angles with several lenses, we had a good idea of how we would be shooting if we were lucky enough to get a decent sunset.
But lo and behold, at least nine people moved in while we were back at our cars, and it looked like we were going to be very crowded for sunset. Even though we had well over an hour to go, we hustled back to the overlook but by the time we got back, everyone was gone!
Or were they?
Upon further investigation, we found an entire workshop of people had literally gone over the edge of the cliff and were now shooting from a sketchy ledge down below. We met the leader of this workshop moments later. It was none other than Mark Metternich who is apparently a fearless mountain goat of a man. All of his workshop participants were shooting merrily perched on a ledge some 1000 feet or so above the canyon below.
Together we waited, fingers crossed, for the sun to drop below the cloud layer. After an hour or so, it began to glow off to the West and eventually we all gasped as the sun finally dropped and lit up the entire canyon below us. For a time, it was non stop shutters clicking. It was hard to tear my eyes away from Wotan's throne, but I managed to do so just long enough to yell "rainbow!" and all of us suddenly bolted to the other side of the overlook in an attempt to grab a shot before it disappeared. (I'm hoping said shot of rainbow will be forthcoming.) Five minutes later, the light was gone and we were headed back to our cars.
My end-of-Summer trip to the Southwest was amazing. This was my first trip to the North Rim and my mind was blown repeatedly over the two days I shot there.
David and I spoke with Mark and got to know him a bit while we were out on the overlook. He's a great guy and extremely knowledgeable. If you are looking for an incredible workshop experience, I would put Mark Metternich at the top of your list. This man's mojo is just unbelievable and his ability to follow the light is just uncanny. After the amazing light on Saturday night the sky blew up again on the following morning in what Mark described as the most amazing sunrise he's seen up there. You can find more info about Mark at www.markmetternich.com.
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Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:
Blog | Website | Facebook | Instagram | 500px | Twitter | Google +
Last Light On Wotan's Throne
Last Light On Wotan's Throne
The wind was howling by the time David Columbo and I made it to Cape Royal last Saturday. We still had two hours to kill until sunset, so we headed out to the end of the trail to scope out some possible shots of Wotan's Throne. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were the only two people crazy enough to jump the rails and walk out to the edge. After testing some different angles with several lenses, we had a good idea of how we would be shooting if we were lucky enough to get a decent sunset.
But lo and behold, at least nine people moved in while we were back at our cars, and it looked like we were going to be very crowded for sunset. Even though we had well over an hour to go, we hustled back to the overlook but by the time we got back, everyone was gone!
Or were they?
Upon further investigation, we found an entire workshop of people had literally gone over the edge of the cliff and were now shooting from a sketchy ledge down below. We met the leader of this workshop moments later. It was none other than Mark Metternich who is apparently a fearless mountain goat of a man. All of his workshop participants were shooting merrily perched on a ledge some 1000 feet or so above the canyon below.
Together we waited, fingers crossed, for the sun to drop below the cloud layer. After an hour or so, it began to glow off to the West and eventually we all gasped as the sun finally dropped and lit up the entire canyon below us. For a time, it was non stop shutters clicking. It was hard to tear my eyes away from Wotan's throne, but I managed to do so just long enough to yell "rainbow!" and all of us suddenly bolted to the other side of the overlook in an attempt to grab a shot before it disappeared. (I'm hoping said shot of rainbow will be forthcoming.) Five minutes later, the light was gone and we were headed back to our cars.
My end-of-Summer trip to the Southwest was amazing. This was my first trip to the North Rim and my mind was blown repeatedly over the two days I shot there.
David and I spoke with Mark and got to know him a bit while we were out on the overlook. He's a great guy and extremely knowledgeable. If you are looking for an incredible workshop experience, I would put Mark Metternich at the top of your list. This man's mojo is just unbelievable and his ability to follow the light is just uncanny. After the amazing light on Saturday night the sky blew up again on the following morning in what Mark described as the most amazing sunrise he's seen up there. You can find more info about Mark at www.markmetternich.com.
--------------
Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:
Blog | Website | Facebook | Instagram | 500px | Twitter | Google +