360 Degree Interactive Kayaking Photos

CLICK HERE TO SEE A SET OF 360 DEGREE INTERACTIVE PHOTOS FROM GLEN CANYON

The Colorado Rive is well known for it's white water rapids and rafting trips that can take several weeks to finish. Most people don't know that there is a place near the Grand Canyon where the Colorado River runs smooth and calm through towering canyons, and you don't need a permit to enjoy it. Just north of Lees Ferry, where the Colorado River rafting trips through the Grand Canyon start, is Glen Canyon. For $40, Colorado River Discoveries will take you and your kayak up-river from Lees Ferry to the Glen Canyon Dam. From the dam it's a 14-mile trip back to Lees Ferry. The trip can be done as a day trip or as an over night camping trip. My friend Chris and I decided to take our time and camp at one of the six camping spots. Each campsite has a bathroom and fire ring. We stayed at a spot that was on the south side of Horseshoe Bend, which we had seen the previous day from the top of the cliffs. In the morning, the calm water reflected the cliff walls making it feel as if I was gliding on top of a mirror. It was several hours before we encountered any other people. One of the thing I like about this trip was that we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Other than the occasional tour or fishing boat we didn't run across many other people. The roughest water we experienced was the wake from passing boats.

For more information about activities at Glen Canyon click here.

Field View

CLICK HERE TO VIEW INTERACTIVE 360-PHOTO


I did a pano last night as the Dbacks lost to the Dodgers. I wanted to do a photog's view from the field. I plan on doing more at Chase FIeld. Maybe I'll do one this summer from the pool out in right field.

Happy Easter.
Pat

Pano from Tom's Thumb Trail

On Tuesday, I was able to hike the new Tom's Thumb Trail in the McDowell Mountains. The trail is part of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. A team of trail builders spent 6 months working on this trail, camping out at the base of the mountain. It's a good hike. It will get your heart pumping. The first pano is taken from about half way up. The second pano shows the view from next to Tom's Thumb.

Click Here to View 360-degree Interactive Photo

Interactive Views From the Border

UPDATE----- I just added a new view to the border fence pano project. This one is from Nogales, Sonora.

CLICK HERE to take you to a 360-degree interactive view of several parts of the fence along the Arizona/ Mexico border. I just updated it with full-screen buttons to make it more interesting. These were taken from several spots in the desert around Naco and Douglas, Arizona. There is a lot of talk about the border fence but many people don't know what it actually looks like. Here it is.

Panos
I've really been getting into panorama photography. It's an excellent way of communicating a sense of place. For those interested in learning more about pano vr photography, I have complied a list of my favorite pano links.

VRMag is a collection of free online issues full of wonderful panoramas. This is a great place to get info and inspiration.

The Panoramist is a blog by photojournalist Gary O'Brien of The Charlotte Observer. He has a lot of great links and useful information on equipment and software. Gary was nice enough to spend an evening with a co-worker and I pointing us in the right direction on how to use the software and shooting techniques.

I'm really inspired by the panorama work of Bernd Dohrmann. His Starry Night pano is simply beautiful. It's shot at dawn and he has drawn in all of the constelations. has connected all of the constellations together. His site has a great collection of panos that really put you in the middle of the action. Worth viewing.

Panoguide is a great how-to site. The regulars in their forums are helpful and quick to answer questions.

Photojournalist Zach Wise has an interesting pano shot of the neon boneyard in Las Vegas. He also has a good intro to panoramas and list of links.