Inspiration

Bryce Canyon National Park

Panorama of Inspiration Point at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

• William Hazlitt.

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Today we woke up in Southern California to a chilly morning and it reminded me of the amazing sunrise we witnessed at Utah’s Bryce Canyon national park. A winter storm had just passed through. We didn’t know about the storm and reached the park at night as the snow was still falling. Our first day at the park was pretty much a goner but the second day we woke at 4 am in the morning and it was -12F outside. After a bit of questioning my sanity, we decided to bundle up and head outside anyway. Once we were outside the beauty of the morning totally made up for the cold. The air was crisp, and the morning sun was perfect. There was almost no wind and most important of all we were the only people at the popular sunset point.

This shot is a panorama stitch of about three images. I used a slightly longer focal length to bring out the details in the snow-covered hoodoos that make Bryce such an interesting location. I used an ND grad filter to balance the exposure between the bright sunlit areas and the darker canyon parts. Moral of the story is I have rarely regretted getting up at 4 in the morning even when the temperature outside was crazy low.