Sunrise this morning was part way up the tunnel road at a switchback that provides a great view across Zion canyon.  The opposite wall is dominated by the West Temple and the Alter of Sacrifice.  The pre-sunrise alpenglow was spectacular.  And this was followed by the wonderful first light.  You’ll have to decide for yourself which one you like best.  I love them both.

Alpenglow

First Light

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How often do I see people arriving at a great site about the time I’m packing up and heading back?  It happened again this morning.  I was photographing the West Temple and Alter of Sacrifice from half way up the tunnel road.  Granted, I get to a site a little on the early side.  The 45 minutes before sunrise rule gets stretched a little.  I like to arrive while the stars are still out.  Why?  I just like the quite time.

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This morning was the first sunrise in Zion.  For a canyon that runs north-south, sunrise can be a bit of a challenge.  So Checkerboard Mesa was selected as the sunrise location because it is near the east entrance.

Now, Checkerboard Mesa is located in a place where the canyon still runs north-south in spite of its close proximity to the east entrance.  This means there was a lot of very wonderful open shade light that lasted for well over an hour after sunrise.  In fact the whole morning shoot was about open shade, autumn colors and an occasional back lit subject.

Sunlight eventually warmed the top of the Checkerboard but the foreground remained in cool, soft light.  The effect was very pleasing and calming.

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I’m getting some use from the G11 here in Zion National Park.  I was out shooting all morning and the surprises continue.

For example, the control dial on the back of the camera, well, I expected it to work by pressing up, down, left and right (which it does).  I didn’t expect it to rotate like its bigger dSLR cousins.  But it does and what a pleasant surprise that was.  It didn’t take long to get into the habit of spinning the dial instead of repeatedly pressing the direction buttons.

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I’m here in Southwest Utah for the next several days and just before coming out I picked up the grand new Canon PowerShot G11.  (I was on the waiting list at Calumet.)  Now I’m actually getting a chance to use it and find out jus what this camera can do.

I didn’t do any research, no product comparison, didn’t even check the published or anticipated specs.  When Canon announced it I put my name on the list.  The only thing I cared about was that its predecessors had rave reviews from photographer friends of mine (some of them even dedicated Nikon people) and the fact that it shoots RAW.  So everything about this camera was new to me and I didn’t know it yet but I was in for some surprises.

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“I am not interested in shooting new things – I am interested to see things new.”

~Ernst Haas

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It had been way too long, too many years, since I was last in Yosemite Valley.  I’ll tell you how long it was.  I didn’t even have a decent camera at the time.  So a chance to spend just one night there was, well, something I was not going to pass up.

It was late Saturday afternoon when we arrived in the valley.  The sky was clear with a few scattered clouds.  My wonder at the immensity of the walls was reawakened as I drove to Curry Village.  There was enough time to check in and make it back to Tunnel View for what was to prove to be a very nice sunset.  It wasn’t one of those million dollar sunsets but nice nevertheless.

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