If you enjoy these photographs, check out my “Views from the Flying Carpet” aerial and “Down to Earth” terrestrial Fine Art Metal Prints!
So I made a little sunset flight to Sedona and back, last night…
Category: Greg’s photographs
“Three Mountains, from over Sedona, Arizona,” Greg’s latest “View from the Flying Carpet” Fine Art Photography Metal Print
It was just to be a “routine” flight home from the Phoenix area, after dropping my wife to visit her mother for a few days.
But “routine,” in the Flying Carpet or any other airplane, has little to do with what you might see out the windshield.
Dense clouds shaded much of Arizona’s Verde Valley as I proceeded northward toward Flagstaff, but as I approached red-rock country near Sedona the clouds parted, flooding rich sunlight over the area’s famed crimson buttes and cliffs.
The icing on that golden cake proved to be the backdrop—distant snow-and-cloud capped mountains visible ahead on the Coconino Plateau.
The contrast of golden red-rock foreground against cool wintry background proved to be one of the most striking visual experiences of my hundreds of flights over this legendary landscape.
My Fine Art Metal Prints start at just $125, and shipping throughout the Continental US runs only $10-21 up to the largest sizes.
Check sizes, prices, framing options, and order your “Three Mountains” Fine Art Metal Print here. (Also available in Pilot Achievement Plaques.)
Oh, and consider checking out my other available Views from the Flying Carpet aerial photographs, and Down to Earth terrestrial photographs.
Many thanks for the amazing response to this particular photo, and to all who have invested to date in my Fine Art Metal Prints, Pilot Achievement Plaques, and Photo Note Cards.
Greg
“Snow Dusts Oak Creek Canyon,” Greg’s latest “View from the Flying Carpet” Fine Art Photography Metal Print
It was just to be a quick 20-minute flight home from Cottonwood to Flagstaff, Arizona.
But brevity of flight in the Flying Carpet or any airplane, has little to do with what you might see out the windshield. I had already photographed stunning snow showers gracing edges of the Coconino Plateau on my outbound leg.
The showers had thickened slightly by the time I made my way home, and over Sedona I found myself treading ghostly passages, chasing glimpses of Flagstaff’s San Francisco Peaks.
I rounded a veiled corner and emerged from a snowy chasm over this vibrant vista of Oak Creek Canyon. Magical light illuminated rich colors of the canyon walls, and in place of Arizona’s stereotypical blue sky it was topped with a wispy, frosty crown.
Another subtle element makes this image special. Among my challenges photographing the desert Southwest, is that people living elsewhere often find it difficult to take our regional rock colors seriously. So I treasure views like this one, where grassy terrain at right and atop the plateau help the eye to resolve those vibrant mineral-laden cliffs as real.
My Fine Art Metal Prints start at just $125, and shipping throughout the Continental US runs only $10-21 up to the largest sizes.
Oh, and consider checking out my other available Views from the Flying Carpet aerial photographs, and Down to Earth terrestrial photographs.
Many thanks for the amazing response to this particular photo, and to all who have invested to date in my Fine Art Metal Prints, Note Cards, Pilot Achievement Plaques, and 2020 Photographic Wall Calendars.
Greg
Greg’s new 2020 “Mosel Valley Castles” calendars
Check out my new “Mosel Valley Castles” photo wall calendars, featuring amazing castles of southwest Germany. Some are in ruins, some have been upgraded from fortresses to palaces, and some are close to original, but all are spectacularly sited in high places with commanding views.
Included are amazing views of and from Reichsburg Cochem, Burg Thurant, Burg Eltz, Burg Landshut in Bernkastel-Kues, Ehrenburg, and the upper and lower Oberburg and Niederburg Manderscheid castles.
As usual, I’m offering two sizes, Standard and oversized Premium. Check them out by clicking on each calendar image. (Click “Preview” on the linked page to see all the monthly photos.)
Check out all my 2020 Aerial and Terrestrial calendars here on my site or go direct to my Calendar Store. (Be sure to check out both Calendar Store pages.)
Oh, and be sure to check for publisher discounts here.
Greg
Announcing Greg’s 2020 “Views from the Flying Carpet,” and “Down to Earth,” photo wall calendars!
I am offering quite a number of 2020 wall calendars featuring my best photographs. These are beautifully printed, and the images are suitable for casual framing.
Proceed to my Calendars page for details, or you can go directly to my Calendar Store to see all at once. (Be sure to see both pages.)
Click “preview” under calendar-store images to see inside photos for each calendar.
You can order calendars sent to you, or directly to others as gifts. (Order soon for the best mailing rates.) Check here for any current publisher discounts.
Hope you enjoy this year’s calendars!
Greg
“Consolation Prize,” Greg’s November, 2019 Flying Carpet column
Our weekend guests Alex and Sabina arrived to unseasonably wet and cold autumn weather.
As with previous visitors, I’d promised Alex a Grand Canyon aerial tour. I mention only Alex because while he and I had flown together before, Sabina had expressed such fear of airplanes that I’d presumptively invited another friend in her place. Saturday, rain confined us indoors. Based on forecast improvement, we designated Monday for hiking and autumn leaf-peeping. That left only Sunday, weather permitting, for flying.
Sunday morning, both Flagstaff Pulliam (KFLG) and Grand Canyon (KGCN) Airports reported scattered clouds at 1,700 feet above ground (AGL), roughly 8,700 feet above sea level (MSL). While that was adequate for the route, the Grand Canyon Special Flight Rules Area requires a 10,000-foot MSL minimum altitude to overfly the Canyon.
Lacking pilot weather reports, I explained that we could safely fly to the Grand Canyon, but depending on arrival-time conditions we might not be able to cross. Alex was predictably game to go. Sabina, however, surprised everyone by volunteering to join us—her sister and friends had told her she’d be nuts to miss the Grand Canyon from above.
Although apprehensive, Sabina took the copilot seat, usually best for nervous passengers. Noting clenched teeth and hands while taxiing out, I offered to turn around, but she insisted we continue. After takeoff, however, she began peering out the window…
**Continue reading Greg’s entire column, “CONSOLATION PRIZE” **.
Photo: “Inner Basin Aspens: Sunstruck autumn aspens line Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks. (Available as a Fine Art Metal Print, Pilot Achievement Plaque, and in Art Note Cards.)
(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)
If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!
New! Greg’s Photo Art Note Cards
Friends have long asked me to offer some of my most popular photographic images on high-quality “Art Note Cards” of the sort often found in art galleries, for use in personal communications with friends and clients.
It has taken me quite some time to research the highest quality cards, the most appropriate card stock, and to cull and select images. Well here, finally, are my first series offerings.
My “Flying Carpet” Art Note Cards series features some of my most popular “Views from the Flying Carpet” aerial photographs, while my Kachina Wetlands Art Note Cards showcase dramatic mountains-and-sunflowers landscapes.
These oversize 5″ x 7″ photo art greeting cards are press-printed on premium textured art watercolor stock, and come in multiples of four cards per image, including envelopes. (Various value packs offer up to five images on twenty cards.) Inner panels are blank for inscribing your own personal messages, and of course envelopes are included.
Learn more and purchase your own Art Note Cards here. Pending initial response, I plan to offer more aerial and terrestrial series in the future, and welcome your feedback on what those should be.
Thanks to all who encouraged me to imprint my images on art note cards, and for your patience in waiting for me to complete this first round. I predict you’ll be pleased with the outcome!
Greg
“Across the World for Lunch,” Greg’s May, 2019 Flying Carpet column
Thursday, I flew to meet a pilot friend for lunch. Sounds routine, doesn’t it? But Uwe Goehl, Canadian Airbus captain who flies the world for a Middle-Eastern airline, lives in faraway Abu Dhabi. We last met six years ago, so when Uwe enrolled in hot-air balloon training just across the state line at Hurricane, Utah, I jumped at the chance to reconnect. As always when bound for unfamiliar airports, I phoned ahead.
“As long as you’re not staying over the weekend,” said Art Granger, manager of Hurricane’s General Dick Stout Field Airport (1L8). “We’re closing the runway for reconstruction Monday morning—you wouldn’t want to get stuck here for three months.”
That got my attention. Sure, I planned only a day trip, but what if delayed by weather or an unexpected mechanical problem? I remembered my friend Julie, whose airplane was stranded at another airport when runway reconstruction started two days early and she couldn’t leave. So I arranged to meet Uwe at nearby St. George Regional Airport (KSGU), instead.
St. George is only 150 miles from Flagstaff, but over a stunningly remote route. Halfway lies none other than the Grand Canyon, followed by the uninhabited “Arizona Strip.” En route, only Grand Canyon National Park Airport reports weather, beyond which there are no airstrips, towns, nor even ranches for 100 miles. So while excited, I obsessively double-checked my survival kit, outerwear, water, and energy bars…
**Read Greg’s entire column, “ACROSS THE WORLD” **
Photo: “Hurricane Cliffs and the Pine Valley Mountains, Utah” (available as a Fine Art Metal Print).
(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)
Greg
©2019 Gregory N. Brown
If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!
“Silence ‘in the soup,'” Greg’s April, 2019 Flying Carpet column
A day-long snowstorm had just passed when I flew Jean to Phoenix to see her mom. Lingering flurries receded to the east, while from the west approached the intense cobalt skies seen only after snow.
By the time I dropped Jean and steered for my next appointment at Prescott, a few new snow showers sprinkled northern Arizona’s mountains. No worry–Flagstaff’s San Francisco Peaks beckoned clearly from between them for my subsequent flight home.
Ninety minutes later, I preflighted for my final fifty-mile hop. Prescott’s Love Field Airport lies in an open valley, with Flagstaff 2,000 feet higher at the base of Arizona’s tallest mountains. Therefore you can usually see Flagstaff’s “Peaks” directly from Prescott’s airport tiedowns.
Now, however, the snow showers between here and home were denser than before…
**Read Greg’s entire column, “SILENCE ‘IN THE SOUP’” **
Photo: “Seven Veils” (available as a Fine Art Metal Print): Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness from the GPS Runway 3 Instrument Approach into Flagstaff, Arizona.
(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)
Greg
©2019 Gregory N. Brown
If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!
UPDATED: “Inner Basin Aspens,” Greg’s latest “View from the Flying Carpet” Fine Art Photography Metal Print
Inner Basin Flaming Aspens!
Recently I flew out-of-town visitors over the Grand Canyon. As always it was amazing, but I found myself dodging clouds so we returned early.
On our way back, however, sun pierced clouds over flaming autumn aspens lining the Inner Basin of Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks, and… Wow, one of my most amazing aerial sights ever! (Click on photo to see a larger image.)
“Inner Basin Flaming Aspens” Fine Art Metal Print sizes and pricing* in ready-to-hang frameless floating wall mounts (pictured at my Fine Art Metal Prints page):
11″x17,” $125
12″x18,” $145
16″x24,” $195
20″x30,” $295
24″x36,” $395
30″x40,” $495
*Prices include standard shipping within Continental US. (Contact me for pricing of custom sizes and framing options.)
Order your “Inner Basin Aspens” Fine Art Metal Prints HERE.
Check out my other available Views from the Flying Carpet aerial photographs, and Down to Earth terrestrial photographs.
Many thanks for the amazing response to this particular photo, and to all who have invested to date in my Fine Art Metal Prints, 2019 Photographic Wall Calendars, and Pilot Achievement Plaques.
Greg