Nine Days Across the Outback: Day Three

On our third day in the Outback, we went to a place called King's Canyon. We hiked up to the top of the canyon (about 300 meters), then hiked around the tops of broken sandstone domes, then finally back the other side.

That's the boring version. The truth is, King's Canyon was the most dangerous place for me I visited in Australia. We started our hike by climbing up something called 'heartbreak hill', which was a set of sheer steps in the side of the canyon wall heading straight up. I actually handled this pretty fine, but once I got to the top I realized I'd used up half my water in the ascent. Our tour guide cheerily bounded past us, "Don't worry, it's an easy walk once you're at the top!".

Ha!

At first, the top seemed easy. Some broken sandstone, but nothing like the initial climb. But as the sun rose higher and higher in the air, it got hotter and hotter. You know how people cook pizza in brick ovens? Imagine yourself getting hotter and hotter, only to find that the ground beneath you is absorbing heat and then re-radiating it back into you....

Fortunately (and this is one of the biggest lessons here), I was with friends. One of them brought an extra bottle of water, which we all split. This still only got us three quarters of the way around the hike -- after that, I had that moment where I turned over my bottle to see it sad and empty. The last leg was the worst. I found myself barely able to think, and could barely focus on not slipping and tumbling down the canyon. From a motivational standpoint, what kept me going was the thought of about seven grand in camera and beautiful glass going *crunch* was what kept me on that trail.

Later, at the bottom of the canyon and a liter of water later, my friend Tim put it this way:

"I knew something was seriously wrong when you stopped taking photos."

"Heroine"

Virtually every shot I got in King's Canyon I was vaguely frustrated with. All of them were decent, but none of them made me say 'whoa' -- no moment where it really all clicked. I think this shot comes closes. The girl in the photo was in our tour group, and she's standing on a ledge overlooking King's Canyon. The light was difficult, because it was getting close to mid-day, and so it's a bit harsher than I liked. I got inspired for the shot when I saw her walking around on the edge. I saw the red, white, and blue, and I knew what I wanted. "Pose like supergirl!", and she was on it.

Here's what doesn't make the shot for me, other than the hard light. The edge of this cliff is not well-defined enough for me. It lacks the dimensionality I wanted, which would have made the subject and the ground underneath her pop. I think I should have gone for a narrower depth of field here, to make the background more of a red blur, but maybe there's something else I could have done. What that is, I don't know -- suggestions welcomed. :)

If you're interested in the photos of my near-death experience at King's Canyon, you can find them here, and you can find some pictures from the road to Alice Springs and beyond here.