Monday, January 17, 2011

A Trek to the Havasupai Nation Reservation

I was in Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin over the weekend photographing bald eagles. The overcast weather and sitting in my car to double as a blind equaled terrible photos.

So in the meantime I’ll post this photo from a trip I took in November of 2005 to Supai, Arizona which is located in the Havasupai Nation reservation. It is a part of the Grand Canyon region and the home of the Havasupai Tribe.

Supai is famous for its spectacular blue-green waterfalls. Havasupai translates to People-Of-The-Blue-Green-Waters in English.

The only way to get to Supai is by hiking, riding a mule or flying on a helicopter. I opted for the ten mile hike which began at Hualapai Hilltop trailhead.

This is Havasu Falls from a top the hiking trail. The color is due to the travertine deposits in the soil.

The amazing thing is the water temperature is about 70 degrees and remains relatively constant throughout the year. Although the weather during the day was about 70 degrees, the water was still too cold for my liking (now that I live in Wisconsin that’s warm to me).

A trip to the waterfalls of the Havasupai is worthy of anybody’s photography bucket list. Don’t miss out on experiencing this magical place of immense beauty and wonder.

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Not Quite a Year in Provence

There are two types of weather reports here in Wisconsin: cold and arctic. As a result, there hasn’t been any photographic opportunities of late so I’m going to post another photo from the archives.

Over the New Year’s weekend my sister asked me why I never printed and framed the photo I took of the lavender fields of Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque, near the town of Gordes in Provence, France. So I went searching in one of my older hard drives. Upon opening it in my photo browser it brought back many great memories.

That was a wonderful trip I took to France with my sister and her husband in July of 2003. My friend, Randy, was getting married in Provence, France and he asked me to travel there to be his best man. The wedding ceremony was held at the Eglise Notre Dame de I'lmmaculee Conception Catholic Church in Generac, France, a little town south of Nimes.

While in Provence we retraced the steps of the Roman past at the Pont du Gard, looked for Van Gogh's ear in Arles and held on to our money belts in Avignon.

Inspired by Peter Mayle's book "A Year in Provence," we spent a day joyriding in the Luberon region discovering the hill towns of Fontaine de Vaucluse, Isle sur la Sorgue and Gordes.

Just a short drive outside of Gordes, this is the Provence you see in guidebooks and on PBS specials. After a whole day of driving looking for the Provence lavender we were rewarded with this incredible postcard view.

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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Monday, January 10, 2011

A Cool Oasis in the Anza-Borrego Desert

Palm trees and water in an austere setting of rocks and sun-blasted vegetation? Yes, its true and you can find this oasis in San Diego’s Anza-Borrego Desert.

The Borrego Palm Canyon trail is a very easy three mile round-trip hike along a rocky canyon that will take you to one of the last remaining naturally occurring native California palm groves.

Your patience and effort will soon be rewarded you with a gorgeous view of the palm tree lined, waterfall fed oasis!

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Into the Wild..The Desert Wildflowers in Anza-Borrego

Just two hours drive from San Diego is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The park occupies over 600,000 acres making it the largest state park in the lower 48 states. The desert comes alive in late February to early April when the wildflowers bloom.

Henderson Canyon Road is the best place to see the wildflowers in all of Anza-Borrego. Here you will see the wildflowers carpet the desert floor. It’s an amazing sight to see.

This was taken with my handy dandy Canon PowerShot G9 camera. Over the years I have owned many Canon cameras such as the Digital Rebel, 20D, 50D, 7D (work camera), 5D, 5DMKII, PowerShot 100, PowerShot s400, PowerShot G1, PowerShot G9, PowerShot G10, PowerShot SX1 and many more other cameras I can’t remember at this time.

If I had to take one camera for a trip I would take the G9 for its versatility, compactness, incredible depth of field and stunning images it produces. It has always come through for me whenever it’s bigger brother (20D, 50D, 5D, 5DMKII) has failed me in the field for one reason or another (i.e. dead batteries, inclement weather, general meltdown, etc).

I had to get down and dirty for this shot! Laying on my belly with my G9 with the fill flash on and with the exposure compensation dialed to -1/3 I was good to go!

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Year 2011! Font’s Point Sunrise

Font's Point stands among one of the lesser known "classic" photo opportunities in the American Southwest desert. The viewpoint is located in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (which is California’s largest state park) in San Diego County. It is spectacular at sunrise when the golden morning light hits the Borrego Badlands.

To reach Font’s Point I had to drive on a soft and sandy four-mile primitive road which is great with a four-wheel-drive vehicle, but in my old Toyota Corolla it was a tough proposition. In the end, the effort was well worth it.

So here’s sunrise of a new day for a new year. I wish everybody great light and wonderful travel adventures for 2011!

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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