Paul and I decided that whilst we were in America we'd do some extra sight-seeing after WPPI so we did a short road-trip around a few neighbouring states. Believe it or not, there are a bunch more images on the blog including a great little blast from the past general store on Route 66 which I thought was the coolest place I've ever come across!!

(if anyone's interested, all shots were post-processed using multiply & overlay or soft light blending modes & layer masks and i've found there really isn't anything better to make your skies & contrast really POP!)

Monument Valley




Sunrise at Monument Valley (Paul dragged me out of bed pretty much every morning for almost a week )


Las Vegas


Valley of Fire


Zion (Paul shot this image & the next one and they're both a 3 or 4 shots stitched together with Photoshop)


Bryce


Route 66






Mojave Desert

I heart number four Those are awesome, thanks for sharing !

Awesome images, Sofie...I left blog love.

Awesome stuff Sofie!

so bummed I didn't get to go and meet you sofie.. Maybe next year...

Amazing!

Wow, great shots! I love road trips around the southwest. Glad you enjoyed it

these are fantastic - as usual! Wish I could have gone with you.

Sophie!!!! I love these shots from you and Paul, and I so enjoyed getting to meet you. Can't wait till your next trip where you can hopefully come up to Yosemite!

sophie you and paul are amazing!!! these are just breathtaking! we can't wait to see you guys again hopefully soon!!! you're always welcome at the baxter home!!

amazing. that first shot is stunning. and that donkey shot...right on, i love it. and the bottles. these are fantastic. glad the southwest treated you so well. i'm heading over to the blog!

Thanks everyone I've been sooooooooo fidgety since we've arrived back to Cyprus... I can't wait to get back to America and drive around your stunning country some more!!

Shane, I would really have loved to have met you too... like you say, there's always next year!!

Tana, I'll road-trip you around Cyprus instead!

Shawn, I wish we'd known you a couple of years ago when we went to Yosemite! You're pretty much a "local" there! I know Paul would love to shoot with you around Yosemite (so would I but don't expect me to climb anything ... not even an ant-hill!!!)

David, meeting you & your absolutely adorable family really was one of the highlights of our trip.

Wow. Great stuff. I wish i could make my photos pop (for lack of a better word) as well as yours.

I underexpose by a third to half a stop on a lot of the landscape shots. As I mentioned before my basic PS is a couple of duplicate layers set to different blending modes as well as curves & levels. Other than that, my tip is, don't forget to sharpen your image - it makes a huge difference to it. (If you have CS3, use Smart Sharpen instead of Unsharp Mask.)

I love the second composition. Its always great to see what other photogs are working on when not shooting weddings. Thanks for sharing!

your photos are amazing! thanks for sharing with us...

Nice work, I like the donkey photo!

looks cool! i like them

I LOVE 'em!!!