What almost didn't happen: Photo of the day

Here is a picture that almost didn't happen. I know most photographer's have a story like that and I will share mine. On a cross-country trip with my sister and ex-wife we stopped at the Grand Canyon. I was just getting into photography and had my trust N90 and Fuji Velvia. I was going to capture the quintessential picture of every national park we went to during that 1 week trip back driving across the country.

I was tired having driven all day, and really didn't have any clue what happens in canyons at sunset when the light is at such a severe angle. Having lived my whole life in the midwest we just didn't have photos taken that way. They just don't exist. Canyons and Mountains however are different. Standing on the edge as the sunset I stopped and looked and wanted to go home just shortly after I saw the sun disappear. My sister however kept wanting to look at the cloud and stopped me. having concentrated on some detail pictures of the canyon itself I never even looked to sky to see what the clouds are doing. Those are things you learn with experiance. Something I didn't have.

Now quickly unpacking my gear, I loaded the camera with Fuji Velvia 50 film. Quickly I set up and just before this picture was taken the rocks erupted with the splashes of light that you see here. Had my sister not stopped me to look at the cloud, I would have never had the chance to take this picture. Lesson learned I now wait until far after dark to capture the twighlight and when in the mountains you wait until the light is gone.

Nikon N90 Fuji Velvia film scanned with a Nikon LS-4000 scanner