Some places don't quite fit the name, often building expectations the namesake can't always or often produce. I used to think Pt. Sublime, on the Grand Canyon's North Rim was one of those places. Don't get me wrong, I've pulled some nice images from there over the past decade, but most not really so sublime. The reason I go there is for the remoteness, usually seeing a handful of people or no one. It takes nearly 25 miles of really not great dirt, that has me on the edge of going 4x4 just to be sure. Once there, you can practically drive right out and over, and one of its great features is being one of the few places on the North Rim you can spy some of the Colorado River.

This past weekend, I dreaded the idea of going out there again for a 2nd week...I first went because I was looking for Agave Kaibensis specimens like the one I have on my business card, previously photographed at this location. They were there, but past prime and their locations in relation to the scenes I tried to pull together didn't work.

Low and behold I find myself desperately needing uninterrupted sleep from shooting Toadstool hoodoos till midnight in Utah and then driving to North Rim for 1st light work, so while bobbing head from tiredness I bobbled my way half the distance on that road to a spot a nearby spot with a great secluded side canyon view, where I watched momma and baby redtail hawk doing their thing last week. I got there and slept all day, waking 1 hour before sunset. Realizing I can't get anywhere in under and hour worthwhile from this location, other than Pt. Sublime, I begrudgingly go out there to complete the day.

I was rewarded, surprised, elated, awed, and stupified. This place really lived up to its namesake today.

Technical notes:
For those who might be thinking "Nice HDR", or "Use a little saturation did you?", I don't blame you. Fact of the matter is that this is a single image exposure and I did not push saturation, in fact I had to dumb it down slightly so as not to be in the realm of rediculously unbelievable. What I did do to achieve this, is break out my trusty old lees neutral density graduated filters. I used a graduated 2 stop to calm down the far edge of the canyon just slightly where the slope was brighter and washing out slightly and up through the sky. I then used a 2nd 2 stop hard edge filter set perfectly on the hard-edged horizon (Grand Canyon is a grand place to use this filter). This does nothing to change the colors of sky other than taking a longer time to expose the sky matching how long it takes to expose the canyon below.