On the final day of our photographic odyssey, Bob and I visited Zion National Park, also in Southern Utah. We arose early to capture some early morning scenes before joining our guide for the day, Seth Hamel for our trek up the Narrows. I’ll begin with some pictures from the early morning, taken at a variety of locations at the southern end of Zion Canyon.
This first picture is an iconic view taken from the bridge at the Canyon Junction. The peak in the distance is known as the Watchman; the stream below the bridge is the Virgin River. This photograph as well as many of those that follow proved to be challenging. With the morning sun low in the sky, the omnipresent canyon walls create dark shadows and strong contrast with the sky above. We were a little hurried, not wishing to be late for our 8:30 am appointment with our guide, so all the shots were taken without a tripod and neutral density, gradient filters. I took care to ensure I had fast enough shutter speeds to avoid “camera shake”, giving me a sharp, albeit dark image I could work with. I was then able to adjust the contrast using Photoshop,producing a photo that approximated what I was able to see with my eyes. That’s the goal.
I was able to capture this small waterfall, a little upstream from the Canyon Junction Bridge. This area was entirely in shadow, making it easier for me to reduce my shutter speed to 3/10 second. That’s a little slow for hand held shots, but I was able to brace the camera, hold my breath and shoot. The resultant “streaming” look of the flowing water turned out alright.
This next photograph was taken from the dry creek bed, just downstream of the Pine Creek Bridge. That’s Bridge Mountain looming the background.
My last picture in this sequence of early morning scenes features the Pine Creek Bridge, a beautiful stone structure built in a style commonly used in the early days of construction of the park’s facilities.
We wrapped up our early morning shoot in time to meet Seth at the Zion Adventure Company, where we were outfitted for our trek up the Narrows. The narrows is a large slot canyon, located in the north end of the Zion Canyon. The Virgin River flows out from its source higher in the mountains through the Narrows. There is no avoiding the water, so we were dressed in full body dry suits and wet socks and shoes. You’ll see a photo of us in the following slideshow, looking quite dapper in our suits.
Seth led us up Narrows, crossing the river in a zigzag pattern, moving from one dry spot to another. We stopped in several places to take pictures, taking advantage of the diffuse light in the high-walled canyon. We set up our equipment on the dry patches, moving into the stream with our tripods to take our pictures from the best vantage points. We had lots of help from Seth in choosing our spots and with our camera settings for the unique lighting in the canyon. Seth encouraged us to take our shots in the full manual mode, making the focus, aperture, ISO and shutter speed adjustments without the benefit of the camera’s “brain”. The intent was to control the aperture and the shutter speed coincidentally to achieve both the desired depth of focus and appearance of the “streaming” of the water. The final adjustment for each shot was the ISO setting to dial in a shutter speed of 1/4 second. This approach proved to produce the most desirable results.
Following is a slideshow, presenting my favourite shots from the Narrows. I’ve included a picture taken by Seth of Bob and me in our stylish attire. Click on the right to advance; on the left to reverse direction.
It was a great adventure, hiking in the fast-moving water, at times above our knees in depth. A little tiring for the un-intiated, but well worth it for a novel photographic experience.