Traveling down into a deep gorge provides you with an intimacy, a perspective, and an understanding of the depth, width, and steepness of the canyon completely different from what you get from the rim. At the bottom somehow the side cliffs become higher and steeper and the river more powerful. It is the opposite phenomenon to what happens with mountains, which very often do not reveal their real size and steepness until you attempt to climb to their summits. With one difference. Perspective increases and views open up as you get higher and higher on a peak, reaching a maximum on the top, where you can look down with unobstructed 360 degree views. The opposite occurs when you descend into a canyon; perspective decreases and views close down as the canyon walls loom higher and higher as you go down. The feelings of claustrophobia and helplessness at being so far down can be considered the opposite of the euphoria and accomplishment of reaching a mountain summit.

Nowhere have I experienced those feelings to a higher degree than in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. It is not the deepest, narrowest, or steepest gorge I have descended into, but the sensation of remoteness you get at the bottom is unparalleled. You feel so removed from the rim that looms a mile above your head that it could very well be located a thousand miles away instead of just a few. Down there it is just a different world: more warm, more wild, more silent. And hard as hell to photograph, specially with a cloudless sky. The contrast between the sky and the sunlit sandstone cliffs with the dark deeper gorge is just too much for the camera sensor, and it is very difficult to find a composition that successfully provides a good perspective of the canyon from the river level while overcoming the technical obstacles. I have chosen this photo, taken soon after sunrise, because in my opinion it properly depicts the beautiful desert vegetation that grows from the fertile sand and rock banks deposited by the river, shows the contrast with the river and the vertical cliffs of the inner gorge, while also providing the perspective of the sunlit monoliths of sandstone that reach all the way up to rim level.

"The culture of a nation is shown in the cleaningless of its streets." Puerto Jiménez (Costa Rica) street sign

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