© 2020 Romi Boon All Rights Reserved
This is an example of a good black and white photograph; it includes the darkest darks and the lightest lights and everything in between. The color version of this photograph didn't have a lot of color variance however I noticed though, that there was a lot of contrast, so I converted it to black and white. I love compositions with lines (and there’s a lot of them here). In this shot, your eye is lead to the end of the roadway, where it disappears over the hill. Don’t you wonder where it goes and what’s over the hill?
This photo was captured west of Carefree (Scottsdale, Arizona), near Bartlett Lake. The tall peaks in the distance are the Mazatzal Mountains, which are part of Tonto's National Forest. I was intrigued by the unique mix of saguaro trees and the soaring mountains, “How unique” (I had never seen that before). I began searching for a good composition, and after some scrambling over borders and dodging of the cholla cactus's (ouch!), I found this shot. Notice how the many lines in this photo, all point at the tallest saguaro tree; the focal point. Desert scenes always remind me of an old black and white movie, so I chose to show it this way.
This was my second visit to The Grand Canyon, and by far the most memorable and enjoyable. We stayed at the famous Angel’s Landing, a cliff side resort located on the south rim (near the famed peak to peak hike, Angel’s crossing), for two absolutely amazing and memorable days. We arrived at The Grand Canyon around mid afternoon and we knew the best lighting conditions would soon be upon us so we made cycling the rim a priority. Before heading out however I noticed how few cars there were in the very large parking lot, and so I recognized and counted my blessings! As we cycled, we continually stopped to take photos; I was in my glory, the views were fantastic! That evening we walked over to a neighboring restaurant (The El Tovar) and were blessed with each others company, fireside seating, a wonderful dinner and great bottle of wine too! The next morning we headed towards Hermit’s Rest (the west rim) and although we didn’t cycle it we spent the morning stopping to take photos (while the morning light was perfect). Later, we went back to the El Tovar for lunch and sat window-side, over-looking the canyon! Again, I recognized the many reasons to be thankful. Next, we then headed to the east rim and although we couldn’t go to the eastern entrance (Watchman’s tower) because it was closed, we were okay with that because we had been there before. We cycled, hiked and photographed the entire afternoon away; yet another glorious day cycling The Grand Canyon! We went into Tusayan (a community just south of the rim) for a fantastic authentic Mexican dinner and then retired early, tired and very appreciative of the two fantastic days we had at the Grand Canyon!
