Morenci Mine

This is a shot of the Morenci copper mine in Arizona, the largest copper mine in North America and one of the largest copper mines in the world. The shot has some issues – especially focus on the right side – but I decided it was worthwhile to share.

The road that goes through the Morenci mine is not photographer friendly. Big trucks blasting down a narrow road, very few places to pull off the road and look at the mine, and high fences at just about every place you can get a good view. But I was determined to get a shot. So I found a break in the traffic, pulled part-way off the road, jumped out of my truck, ran up to the fence, held the camera over my head and blasted 12 quick frames in the general direction of one of the mining pits. Then I used panorama software, Microsoft ICE, to stitch the frames into a single image.