My first trip to Zion National park was the first time I genuinely spend time planning for a road trip. I painstakingly created an excel page with locations that I wanted to visit with GPS coordinates, notes, and sample images taken at the site. I was proud of the planning and was confident that this new planning method would help me with my pictures. It did not quite work out as I intended. The trouble was light. I underestimated how much of a role light plays in the success of the photography in a canyon.
At most locations, early morning and evening lights are perfect for making images but not when you are inside a canyon. The area depicted in this image is a rather popular pullout on the Zion-Carmel highway that provides a nice view of the Zion canyon, the switchbacks, and the canyon junction. The photo was taken at 7:45 am, and you can already see the massive shadow in the composition. I initially did not want to process the image because when I cropped the shadowy bit out, the picture did not look well balanced. I learned the valuable lesson of minding the direction of light after this trip. If you plan a trip for landscape photography, I think it is imperative to consider planning your photo locations based on light quality and direction.