Haymes Images

©2009 Tom Haymes

We just returned from a Spring Break trip to West Texas. I shot a lot of pictures on the trip but this was one of those that I was able to immediately visualize as we left Santa Elena Canyon. The clouds were cooperative, too.

Ansel Adams shot a picture of the canyon sixty years ago. Adams’s image shows a direct view of the canyon and is immediately to the right of this image. I remembered the picture as we visited the canyon but I didn’t have the book to reference his shot. I attempted to duplicate his shot but my attempt was less satisfying because the sun was directly overhead and behind the canyon. (Never try to imitate the master.)

However, after we emerged from our hike into the canyon, I saw this picture almost immediately. I had been trying the entire time we were there to convey the scale of the 1500 ft. cliff walls that line the Mexican side of the border but was frustrated inside the canyon itself. It was only with the long, converging perspective in this image that I felt like I achieved my goal. Since the sun was already behind the cliffs (which helped the clouds), I lightened up the cliff walls a bit in PhotoShop, but other than that (and the black-and-white conversion), this is pretty much as shot.