Photo: Andrew Phelps

In 1979, 11 years old and armed with a Kodak Instamatic 110, photographer Andrew Phelps took his first image in the Grand Canyon on a trip with his father, Brent. Phelps shot four rolls of film that trip, but the square prints he developed upon his return didn’t do his memories justice. Ever since, and with a life dedicated to photography, he’s been trying to successfully capture the canyon. Thousands of frames later, and after nine trips over 34 years with his father, Phelps took to sorting through his work. The result is a 108-page book called Cubic Feet/Sec. Phelps admits to failing at his goal of completely capturing the Grand Canyon’s beauty and what it means to him and his family. But as a collection, the book comes pretty damn close. Here, Phelps shares a few of his favorite frames and stories from more than three decades in the big ditch.This is very likely the first photograph I ever made. It’s in Marble Canyon just after the put-in and is image number one on roll one from my first trip through the canyon in 1979. I had four rolls of 12 exposure film that year.