Santa Elena Canyon-Looking Up

Looking through my images of Big Bend I found a couple that really stood out as a different view than I normally go for in photographing that location.  Really, I should say they were a different perspective on a location I have photographed many times.

The normal "rules" of composition in landscape photography talk about foreground, mid-ground and background.  Those are key compositional elements.  What I found though were a few shots where I just shot up into the sky.  In a location like Santa Elena Canyon where the walls rise 1500 feet above you it becomes a whole new way to see the canyon.

In the late afternoon I looked up with my fisheye lens.  If you have ever read this blog you know that I really like using the fisheye for the amazing view it can give.  Deep in Santa Elena Canyon, it did not disappoint.  The view takes in a huge amount of the canyon in a way you cannot even see it to the eye.

Then at night looking up at the walls of the Sierra Ponce with the Milky Way hanging in the sky.  This is a single frame with no light painting.  I had been alternating images with and with out light painting.  Looking at the result here, I was struck by how much light is truly out there and how well a modern digital camera picks it up.

Two different images.  Each with a different view of the canyon.