Thirty-two contemporary photographers are featured in a new book and exhibition that elucidates the many possible approaches to capturing the Grand Canyon on film. In the biographical sketches by author Stephen Trimble, most of the participants acknowledge that despite years of work, there is always some new vista or side canyon to explore. Here are their thoughts on how to photograph the Grand Canyon:

John Running: ?You have to submit to the individual cactus flower. If you are doing a landscape, you are going to make a photograph of what it gives you. This idea of communications isn?t just between a photographer and a model; it can be between a photographer and a California kingsnake.?

Jack Dykinga: ?A canyon photographer is able to see the long view, and you tend to gravitate to wide-angle lenses. You see a whole storm cell isolated over one butte. That?s the beauty of the rim.?

John Blaustein: ?Light transforms the canyon. It?s simply the rocks and the light.?

Tom Till: ?I always try to go a couple times a winter. By using modern day weather forecasting, I like to be there when the storm is leaving, because the air is the cleanest then, the snow the freshest. I like that just-fallen look, which you can lose within hours after the sun comes out and the snow stops.?

Michael Collier: ?Every time you go somewhere, there is going to be a surprise. Your job is to keep your eyes open and realize?that was the surprise.?

The exhibition, Lasting Light?125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography, is on view at the Kolb Studio on the South Rim until October 15, 2006.

At the opening of the show, it was a thrill for me to meet many fellow photographers who have devoted years to making images of the Grand Canyon just as I have. I have long admired the work of this dedicated (some might say obsessed) bunch of artists. We traded stories of terrifying river runs, secret special grottos and getting up before dawn on a freezing winter morning to catch the first light on fresh snow. This truly an amazing collection of photographs. I am honored to be included.

There two ways to drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The direct route from Flagstaff or Williams takes you straight to Mather Point. That route has always seemed too abrupt for me as you travel for miles across the flat high-desert plateau and suddenly come to edge of the canyon.

The more indirect route is along US 89 north from Flagstaff. As you drive north over the San Francisco Volcanic Field and into the Painted Desert, the edge of the Kaibab Plateau gradually appears to the west. Keep in mind that the Colorado River has carved the Grand Canyon straight across this plateau. Just before Cameron, turn west on AZ 64. Soon you will begin to climb to the top of the Kaibab Plateau. You can now begin to appreciate the enormous the forces of erosion that have cut down through this uplifted plateau to a depth of one mile in just six million years.

While approaching the Grand Canyon along AZ 64, you can get a preview of things to come by stopping at an overlook for the canyon of the Little Colorado River.

When you arrive at Desert View, the first viewpoint inside the park, you will see the canyon in profile and can almost grasp that 800 cubic miles of rock have been eroded away and carried down stream.

The North Rim is only accessible from US 89. Continuing north from Cameron, you will come to a fork in the road where the original Route 89 (now 89A) turns west at Bitter Springs. This road takes you over the Colorado River on the new Navajo Bridge. Be sure and stop on the west side and walk out over the river on the old bridge. This bridge, which was dedicated in 1928, completed the link between Utah and Arizona and made travel from Mexico to Canada possible.


Old Navajo Bridge on the left and the new Navajo Bridge on the right on US Route 89A-© 2006 James Cowlin

Back in the car, you will cross the House Rock Valley under the Vermilion Cliffs (keep an eye out for condors) and then climb to the top of the Kaibab Plateau. At Jacob Lake you will turn south on AZ 67 and an hour later arrive at the North Rim.

One of the most spectacular views of the Grand Canyon is a 20-mile drive on a dirt to the west of the lodge. Here a narrow point juts out into the canyon allowing for a 270 degree view. In 1880, Major Clarence E. Dutton approached the Grand Canyon from the north and spent time at this point. He wrote that it is ?the most sublime of the earthly spectacles.? Thus its name became Point Sublime.


View to the East from Point Sublime at Sunset-© 2006 James Cowlin

For further reading:
Lasting Light?125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography by Stephen Trimble and Carving Grand Canyon: Evidence, Theories, and Mystery by Wayne Ranney both available from the Grand Canyon Association.

You are not alone in your passion for a trip on a ?slow road.? There are many others like you. Together we can spread the word of the joys of leisurely travel. Join the US Route 89 Appreciation Society and you?ll receive an official membership certificate and button to attest to your belief in the "slow road" movement.

General Membership: $5
Benefits:
? Membership Certificate
? Membership Badge
? Email Newsletter
? Invitations to all project events