Icon Alert

[Zeph]

Every photo has a story...
Having shot from the bridge with little success on other trips, getting there this time was a priority. Having spent the day playing up river we, (my wife and I) knew we needed to get our butts down stream for sunset. The shuttle service was running, so we we're dependent on it, which was fine, except it's a bit slow going with all the stops along the way.
Looking out of the bus window, the patchy clouds were starting to glow and we've got a few more miles yet. Then this tourist needed to see the deer along the road and the driver has stopped to wait for these mule deer to standup from the warm pavement, I'm starting to get a little angst, I'm thinking where can we get out and take advantage of the light and just blow off the bridge, but the valley gets pretty narrow and without a plan I knew there wasn't time. Finally, we arrive and there are at least 25 shooters in place, sucking up all the available light and I'm thinking, be tactful here, but I wanted to use my Zeiss 21mm, so I had to penetrate the wall of shooters. Without wasting anytime this fellow calls me over to share his space and this is the shot.

 

[AlanLichty]

Love the capture story - I can almost feel the anxiety for missing the light. The image says you didn't

Wish I'd shot this......

 

[Ben Egbert]

Oh wow, you got the prime spot near the right side of the bridge. Great light and it happened before leaving the Watchman. The only thing missing is full yellow on the cottonwoods. But I think it was a great trade off. One of the best Watchman images I have seen.

 

[Jeffrey]

Classic Zion Bridge, and great timing. Well done, well processed.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

A great sunset image of the watchman. The sky is just gorgeous. Well captured and processed.

 

[beavens]

This is f'ing spectacular!!!

Jeff

 

[JimFox]

Hey Zeph,

Very cool clouds, the atmospherics were great for you. I think I would back off on the saturation a bit though. I usually use the greens on the leaves as my gauge for saturation. The green seems a bit too neon especially on the sides.

 

[Martín el Escocés]

Super shot, Zeph. Love the lead in and the colour at its destination. I really enjoyed the tension of the chase you set out. Great that you found such an unselfish citizen to help you to such a happy ending!

 

[Guy Schmickle]

Beautiful take of a familiar scene. I really like to hear that a photog offered you a spot to shoot. Too often that wouldn't happen.

 

[Mike Mancil]

Fantastic! Glad to know that I’m not the only one with a case of angst .

 

[Jim Dockery]

Great story and what a nice guy, not sure I'd share limited space in that situation (with that light happening). Did you use a GND filter on this one? One of my pet peeves is overly dark sky that doesn't jive with the landscape. In this case it is the bright reflection in the river doesn't go with those clouds.

 

[Roguecoolman]

I love icons. It's really nice to hear another fellow photog sharing a spot. It gives the good vibes for the holidays. I've never shot this area myself but I'll be heading to Zion December. I've seen some shots down from the river and I might go there but what's the "etiquette" for going on the river? Obviously if i'm far away, I'm not gonna know if i'm in someone's shot or not.

 

[dan swiger]

I think icons are fine, especially represented by this capture!
I only got blank skies when I was there & would have settled for half as much.
Looks the your timing was spot on.
I had a similar sharing gesture from a photographer. Must be paying it forward!

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Great back story, Zeph. I have an anti-story for you. I met Dewitt Jones at a seminar where we were both giving presentations. He told me when he was working with National Geographic and was shooting wildlife in Yellowstone that if there was a crowd of photographers he would charge through the group yelling "National Geographic" to get in front of the line. On the basis of other things he told me he was a first class jerk.

All of that aside, this is a fine image. You can now replace your avatar with this one or did you already do that.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Beautiful shot Zeph, that is a gorgeous sunset!

I love icons. It's really nice to hear another fellow photog sharing a spot. It gives the good vibes for the holidays. I've never shot this area myself but I'll be heading to Zion December. I've seen some shots down from the river and I might go there but what's the "etiquette" for going on the river? Obviously if i'm far away, I'm not gonna know if i'm in someone's shot or not.

I usually consider it bad form to set yourself up in the middle of someone else's shot - especially if it is a large group of someone elses! I know you can shoot this from below the bridge, which allows a different angle and doesn't really impact anyone. If I was going to head down the river further, I'd try to go far enough away that nobody would see me, or at least hide behind a tree. That said, I also believe the "s/he who gets their first sets the line" so if you get there early enough you can do whatever the heck you want. I avoided all of that by shooting it at night

 

[Alisa]

Wow! great color in this image! This place is on my bucket list!

 

[Zeph]

Great story and what a nice guy, not sure I'd share limited space in that situation (with that light happening). Did you use a GND filter on this one? One of my pet peeves is overly dark sky that doesn't jive with the landscape. In this case it is the bright reflection in the river doesn't go with those clouds.

No filter, no blends, one shot, but lots of dodging...
Thanks for your comment Jim
1/4 at f/9 Zeiss 21mm