Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic - Los Angeles, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, etc.

markrhiggins · Joined: 28 Jan 2008 Posts: 1991 Location: Australia

Sorry misread. Have not seen the "o". You will have a great time. Las Vegas is easier to get to than LA lol. Especially for me. I normally drive on the left hand side of the road.

rinder99 · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:27 pm

"Am I crazy to cram all these things in such a short time? Is my family going to kill me?

Yes.It's big out there.

triceratops · Joined: 15 Nov 2006 Posts: 7851 Location: The other Nevada

Watch out for jet lag if you plan on driving all the way from LA to the Grand Canyon the same day that you arrive. Also, if you don't stay in the park, I'd suggest Williams instead of Flagstaff. Both are on I-40 but Williams is somewhat further west than Flag.

I don't know why, but I thought you were getting into LA late on Monday. I see now you are getting in early. Also, be advised that the 20th is a holiday in the US (President's day). May or may not affect traffic and available services.

jeffbanke · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:48 pm

I recently did the trip from LA to LV, takes most of the day even at higher than legal speeds (75-80 MPH). We left at about 9 AM arrived in LV at about 5PM.

It will take a complete day to do the loop from LV through Death Valley, and you are going to spend most of the time driving, you will not be at any cool place at the right time of day to get great shots.

Grand Canyon is virtually impossible to get to in one day from LA without killing yourself and your family especially after the Jet lag.

Valley of Fire is only an hour from LV, possible to get there as the sun rises next day.

Here are a few images from Death Valley at the right time of day, sunrise or Sunset :-)

you may see some wildlife like the Coyotes

Valley of fire looks like this

digigandalf · Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 5398 Location: Twinsburg, OH

jeffbanke · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:09 pm

Zion looks like this

Bryce is even further from GC, but looks like this

rinder99 · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:18 pm

Come back when you have 2 weeks to shoot.

jeffbanke · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:24 pm

mikenorton · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:46 pm

My advise would be to pick out one of these places and spend all your non travel time there. With 3 days in one place you stand a chance of getting a good sunrise or sunset on one of the days. If you are traveling from place to place you won't have the time to properly scout a location and you are less likely to be in the right spot at the right time. I always try to stay for at least a week in one spot before traveling to the next spot. Zion would probably be the place I would recommend. There is plenty of diverse scenery to keep you occupied for 3 days. There is also food and lodging in the park.

If you go to Toroweap remember that there is only one campground, about 20 campsites as I remember, and it fills up fast. It will take about 3 hours to get there after you leave the pavement. There are no services, food, gas, water, or motels. If you drive out there in the middle of the night so you can shoot at sunrise be sure not to be caught sleeping in your car at the View Point's parking lot. The rangers check the parking lot in the night and they will ticket you and tell you to leave the park! The Rangers are not kindly Naturalists they are Police men who will take you to jail if you don't obey them. I would not recommend going there unless you plan to stay and camp for a few days. The drive out there is just too long to do both ways in one day, unless you want to shoot at noon.

Good luck and have a good time!

djamesbradley · Joined: 14 Feb 2009 Posts: 405

rinder99 · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:57 am

Been all through that area a 100 times since I was a kid. Come back when you can slow down and enjoy it.

jhuls · Joined: 02 Jan 2012 Posts: 1046

I am from this area, Zions might be worth it but there may be closures for snow although we haven't had much this year. You could also go to the south rim of the grand canyon(the north rim will be closed) but the south rim is quite a drive it will be hours out of your way and I don't know how much time you will have.
Bryce is cool but it will be snowy and the roads may be closed.

The photos posted were not taken in February you will have a much different and snowier scene, not that it won't be beautiful just not what you see in the photos.

ajancso · Joined: 18 May 2009 Posts: 1889 Location: Right Behind You

Thanks Mark, Chris, Russ, Laurin, Jeff, Ken, Mike, James and Jenn - some very good and WISE suggestions here. I guess I did not know what I was getting myself in here. Looks like I will have to cut down.
On the other hand, since this is more a family vacation and not a photographic expedition I cannot expect to be able to properly scout the locations and just hope to be at the right place at the right time.

Thanks!

copidosoma · Joined: 17 Nov 2009 Posts: 3767 Location: Canada

All info above is good. I guess I should have made the toroweap trip sound more like the adventure it is.

We drove through this area for a week last spring and it really was nowhere near enough time to see everything. Some of these areas (death valley for example) you could easily spend a week or two in and not run out of things to see.

My wife and I are horrible for trying to see too much on trips. So from one who knows ... Take the above recommendations to heart, cut your list of things to do and see down and enjoy what you do see more (and get way better photos in the process). Good for your portfolio, your driving muscles and probably your marriage.