For those that have visited Monument Valley.  You are aware that the Valley Loop is closed to the general public  until after sunrise.    So unless you take one of the special guided tours you have to find other ways to get your mittens in the rising sun.

My one day visit to the valley, sort of a scouting trip as I had never been there before, was how I made this image.    Arrival was just at sunset, a 3rd floor room was booked at The View hotel.  This was the view from the rooms balcony.   Shot the sunset,  then a few shots during the night and was set up in the morning to get this wonderful sunrise.  The rest of the day was spent driving around the Valley Loop road marking places for photography on a return trip.

The Miami station, built in 1889, is a rare surviving example of a Northern Pacific and Manitoba Railway station which was used for many years by the Canadian Northern and the Canadian National Railways.

Silver Efex Pro 2 by Nik Software is very quickly becoming my favourite way to convert my images to Black and White or variations of greyscales.

Yesterday seemed like a good day for  the just over an hour drive to Miami, Manitoba and the station.    Weather was around  zero Celsius lots of dramatic clouds.     So 3 1/2 hours later I finally got to the station.   Took lots of images from all sorts of angles before moving on to the next unknown location.

The tutorials on the Nik site make learning Silver Efex Pro 2 relatively easy.   Like most of the Nik Software when it come to sliders only a very little is needed.   Well for me anyway.  It is short of putting salt on your food.   It is a matter of taste.

You should visit the Nik site and download the trial version.   I am sure you will like it.

Take Care and Be Safe

Christopher Robin

2011 Masai Mara, Great Migration, Kenya Africa

2011 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico, USA

2011 Monument Valley, Arizona, USA

This fantastic news was taken from my buddy Marsel,s blog this afternoon:

“The 2011 International Photography Awards have announced the winners of this year’s competition, and we are proud to announce that Marsel won 1st Prize in the Nature/Wildlife category for his series “Japanese Macaques”, for which he was also awarded the title Nature Photographer of the Year 2011.

My image “Bearish Prairie Dogs” has been awarded a “Runner Up” in the Wildlife Photography  -  Take It To The Wild Side Photo Competition.

For this competition, Chasing The Light was especially interested in action and behavioral photography.  They always take into consideration the degree of difficulty in capturing the image.  Rare and Endangered Species are always a plus!  Publishers are always on the lookout for a unique portrayal of a common subject.

Chasing The Light Juried Photography presents outstanding, award winning images to over 1,200 select Professional Photo Editors and Art Directors.

Click on this link to see all award winning images.

http://chasingthelight.photoselter.com/