Still Working Hard

I am so incredibly tired.

September knocked things up a notch when two things happened at roughly the same time:

  • I got a bunch of flying gigs. To be fair, the biggest gig was booked back in March or April. That’s the gig I’m on now — flying a group of Russian photographers around Lake Powell, Monument Valley and Shiprock. (I’m in Monument Valley now; more on that later.) But in addition to my annual appearance at the Mohave County Fair, I scooped up two photo shoots at Lake Powell and three relatively lucrative custom tours for Realtors. And did I mention the Australian photographer I needed to take around so he could get shots of my helicopter operation for an upcoming book? (Of course I did. I’m still tickled about that.) I flew more than 45 hours in September, and most of them were solid revenue hours.
  • My editor reminded me that Apple promised to deliver Leopard in October. Counting back from the end of the month, it became obvious that I’d have to have my book done by the first week in October if Apple delivered on that promise and we wanted our book to be in stores the day Leopard became available. And one look in my personal bank account reminded me that I write for a living and had been neglecting my livelihood.

Thus began a month of very long days. And timing couldn’t be worse. Not only was I scheduled to do this big gig with the Russians, but the dates happened to fall on the very last days I had to write the book. So I had to finish it before I left. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I was packing for my trip as my computer was generating PDFs and uploading files to Peachpit’s server.

I worked 14-hour days last week. Basically, every waking hour was spent in front of my computer, writing about Leopard. And, believe it or not, I have two laptops with me here on my trip so I can knock off the Introduction before the book goes to the printer.

But although the book work is not 100% over, it’s over enough to relax a bit. And even though I’ve been flying my butt off, I do have a nice quiet evening to myself.

And I know — I’m way overdue for a blog post.

The Mittens

In Monument Valley.

Monument Valley is one of the overnight destinations of the Southwest Circle Helicopter Adventure and Land of the Navajo Helicopter Excursion that Flying M Air offers about a dozen times a year. Because of that, I get up to Monument Valley quite often.

Monument Valley, on the Arizona-Utah border, is relatively remote, hundreds of miles from any major cities. Although the roads to get to it are good, its distance from “civilization” keeps the crowds away. The vast majority of visitors are foreign tourists on bus trips. Monument Valley is pretty unique and has become somewhat iconic as a symbol of the American Southwest.

Traditional Navajo HoganMonument Valley is on the Navajo Reservation, which is the largest of all Native American Reservations in the country. Access to the rock formations we know as monuments is controlled through the entrance of the Navajo Tribal Park. There are reasonable fees for entering and driving your own vehicle into the park. But for an additional fee, you can go with a Navajo Guide who will take you places you’re not allowed to go on your own. If you have the time, I recommend this, as it’s likely to be your only opportunity to step inside a traditional Navajo hogan.

Goulding's LodgeI normally fly to the park from Page along the southeastern side of Lake Powell. There’s a landing strip at Goulding’s Lodge and after a quick, high-level cruise around the most famous monuments, I land at the strip (shown here) and shut down for the night. All the rooms have a clear view of Monument Valley’s westernmost formations, as well as the landing strip. I have to book the rooms at Goulding’s almost a year in advance to guarantee that I get them for the dates I need them.

Once at Goulding’s, my passengers take a 3-1/2 tour with a Navajo Guide. It’s done on a big tour truck with other people, but it’s personally narrated (not with a recording) and up to my relatively high standards of what a tour should be like. I give my passengers a choice of an afternoon tour (on the day of arrival) or a morning tour (on the day of departure). I think the morning tours are better for photography, but since you’re in the park so long, there are plenty of good photo opportunities, no matter what time of day you’re there.

ImageOf course, to learn whether the tour would be good, I had to take one. I’ve actually taken the tour three times. I took this photo on the most recent trip. It shows two of the most famous monuments: the Mittens. They got the name because they look like those woolly things you might have worn in the winter as a kid. They’re formally called East Mitten Butte and West Mitten Butte. They stand hundreds of feet off the desert floor, towers of red sandstone that are still eroding in the high winds and summer storms of northern Arizona.

The Navajo Nation zealously protects its natural wonders from commercial exploitation. It’s for that reason that photographers who want to use their photos commercially need to get a permit from the Navajo Nation Film Commission. I’ve done this once — to get the photos I needed to show on Flying M Air’s Web site. It isn’t cheap, but it isn’t difficult. In general, the film people are pretty reasonable and will do what they can to stay within your budget.

This October, I’m flying a group of about a dozen photographers around Monument Valley as part of a photo excursion offered by one of my clients. He’s gotten all the permits he needs to make it legal for me to fly at low altitude around the monuments. This is a huge deal and something I’m really looking forward to.

Southwest Circle in a Blur

That’s what happens when you compress a 6-day trip into 3-1/2 days.

Just got back from a 3-1/2 day version of Flying M Air‘s Southwest Circle Helicopter Adventure. I won’t do that again. A photographer and I rushed around from Tuesday morning until Friday at noon, trying to visit and photograph or video all of the destinations and the flights in between. I’m talking about Sedona, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Monument Valley, and Flagstaff. In 3-1/2 days. Should make your head spin just thinking about it.

I have some stories to tell about the trip, as well as photos and video taken by me and by my companion for the trip, Richard Noll. If you’re a Bigfoot follower, you may know of Rick — he’s done documentaries about monster hunting for Discovery Channel and cable networks.

Rick’s job was to take photos and videos while we were in flight — which is something I can’t do — as well as on the ground where permitted. He left me with about 3 hours of video and close to 900 12-megapixel digital photos. My job, over the next few months, is to turn our raw footage into slideshows, video podcasts, and a DVD to show people some of the things they’ll see on the excursion.

But they’ll be lucky. They’ll be able to see it over 6 days, which is far more reasonable.

Flying in PhoenixRick took the photo you see here as I was flying into Phoenix yesterday at around noon. As helicopters enter the Phoenix Class B airspace, they’re instructed to stay below 2,000 feet (Sky Harbor is at around 1,200 feet, I believe) and normally approach the airport by flying down the west side of Central Avenue. That’s what you see here out the front windows. The red thing on the left (that’s reflecting on my window) is one of the back doors. We took a door off each day so Rick could take glare-free videos and photos. This photo will probably be the opening shot of the first video podcast I put together.

More later. Got a bunch of stuff to do this morning.