sunrise is served Photo

Photographer’s Note

there are billions of photos showing Bryce Canyon at sunrise, but this is first for me. 6AM, clear sky, almost freezing, most bizarre sandstone formations (the dark specks in the shadows are full-grown pine trees), all possible shades of orange and yellow, tolerable crowds of people - nothing more to ask for.

the shock came when after freezing our fingers off we decided to go to the historic Ruby's Inn for early breakfast. imagine - diner room flooded with morning light, at almost every table several senior French-speaking tourists in Ralph Lauren travel clothes, ladies with carefully styled hair, make-up, jewelry, ready to experience American West. enter us - heavy and dirty hiking boots, industry-size photo backpacks, gloves. on top of that I had run into a tree branch when setting up the tripod (I swear the branch was not there two seconds before), so my face looked as if I had engaged in a fight with a mountain lion. silence descended on the diner room, quiet gasps of shock, mouths agape... American West is really wild.

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RAW, ISO 200, 60mm focal length, spot metering.

eversmile, AiresSantos, Bartleby, feather, hispic, Cretense, danos, bostankorkulugu, patdeph, belido, racheltafoya, Angshu, skippy007, cherryripe, alainh, leo61, kokoro-zukai, plimrn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

L4urianee (27) 2009-07-08 6:00

Hi
I like this
A later

Lauriane

eversmile (6175) 2009-07-08 6:01

Yeah! Bryce Canyon! Splendid! The light is glorious, the colors have so much peps! Contrasts and saturation are perfect! That's worth a little injury on the face, after a sudden attack from a mountain lion, huh, tree branch, haha! This one is just a marvel!

Regards
Marine

Greg1949 (8507) 2009-07-08 6:31

Kristine, great note to start with, it is soooo true to what photographers encounter.

Great shot as well, colors and details are wonderful though i would like to see a shot of all those tourist faces looking at you coming into ruby's...

Greg

baba_flies (8013) 2009-07-08 6:32

I HAVE to work but just a little side trip, others smoke or drink 10 coffees a day :))) WOW the light, so warm, so Utah, so beautiful. Love the idea of just rocks, giving us a "deeper" look. Would have loved to see you entering this Ruby place ... LOL. We had some busloads of Chinese hanging at the rim taking pictures of each other (they almost forgot Bryce Canyon, did they notice it at all?). I just read an article the other day written by a commercial pilot and for him the views he gets to see are the treasures of his job. He wrote that he overflew Grand Canyon coming from Las Vegas the other day (as a passenger) and that he was hopeing that the pilot said something over the board system about Grand Canyon - and he did. Only one couple cared to look outside, the others were either sleeping or watching a movie ... can you imagine that. Crossed my mind. Great job, Kristine, love it from A to Z ... Barbara.

AiresSantos (42194) 2009-07-08 6:45

Hi Kristine
Wonderful light and colours in this fine picture of Bryce Canyon.
Excellent POV, details and sharpness
Thanks for sharing and have a nice day
Aires

npecanhuk (14011) 2009-07-08 6:56

Hello Kristine!
That place is magnificent and your picture is excellent, specially because of the well managed sunlight which has enhanced the shapes and colors in this particular view of Bryce Canyon!
TFS - congratulations!
Best regards,
Neyvan

Bartleby (4922) 2009-07-08 7:06

Hi Kristine,
Funny story :-) I can definitely imagine the scene. Must have been a laugh! Bryce Canyon has been photographed over and over? So what? Of course you gotta have yours! And it is beautiful! Wondeful lights, hues and a strong focal point with the peak in the FG. Must have been quite something to stand there!

Best,

Philippe

Morac (20491) 2009-07-08 7:31

Hello,
Ces couleurs sont superbes !
Cordialement
Marc

travelm8 (260) 2009-07-08 7:34

fabulous colours of an unbelievable spectacle , my compliments on the image.

Cheers
John

feather (49862) 2009-07-08 8:56

OK...yes.....there are 'billions' of photos from here, but this one just has to be up there with some of the best. The range of red/orange tones has to be off the scale. What else can I say? Simply stunning!
Kath
PS Love the Ruby's story! ;D

chpp (3986) 2009-07-08 10:20

hi Kristine
magnificent view, great sharpness and light and nice framing
TFS
C

jonathan_hart (22576) 2009-07-08 18:18

it's not just for photos, i guess being there must be a fantastic moment
jc

hispic (7399) 2009-07-08 20:07

Hello Kristine,
Superb image! this shot exceeds the impact of the ad photo of Velvia that I have seen in the past. You captured this amazing scenery at the best time. Truly beautiful!
Best wishes, Hisashi

delkoo (34352) 2009-07-09 0:07

bonjour kristine,
I never get tired ofseeing photos from bryce canyon, when they are well taken as you did.

light , colors and framing are simply superb.

funny note too.

didier

Cretense (56282) 2009-07-09 0:30

Hello Kistine!

Well, what can anyone possibly comment on a picture like this one? Top class landscape photography, great framing and composition, amazing definition, magic light! congratulations!

Hercules

batalay (20984) 2009-07-10 5:29

Hello Kristine,

Thirty odd years ago, when we drove across the country a number of times (I had been doing post-doc work at Berkeley), we saw the Tetons, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon... but the two colossal parks we missed were Yellowstone and Bryce. Through your photographs I have now been seeing both. The lighting here is spectacular, worth getting up to see at sunrise. I am surprised that the temperatures are near freezing that late in the spring, but the elevation is around 8000-9000 I believe.

Warm regards,

Bulent

marietom (32012) 2009-07-11 7:16

hello Kristine,

wouaw, magnifique, quelle beauté dans cette image ! Couleurs, composition, c'est magnifique.
Bon we
Marie

Waylim (10843) 2009-07-11 9:44

Kristine,
...and it's deliciously rich in golden color like egg and orange like juice, and the texture is just wonderful in great details. I love the contrast between the light and shadows, yet still so much details in the shade. It looks so 3D.
The best way to enjoy the American West is to get down and dirty. The next best things is also to do a horse back ride. I haven't done it but I imagine it would be really wonderfull riding into the sunset.
Way

Wandering_Dan (3243) 2009-07-11 10:42

Hi, Kristine -

Beautiful shot - and great story! After facing down a fearsome branch, you shouldn't have had any trouble with a bunch (herd? gaggle?) of tourists.

This is a really nice view of the canyon that conveys the early morning light as well as the sense of the fantastic shapes. Great use of diagonals, and excellent light capture!

Best,
Dan

jmcl (13899) 2009-07-11 11:14

Hi Kristine,

Wondrous palette of course .. the way these vibrant colors interact with the textures is tremendous .. it is an interesting angle the way this sits in the frame .. I go back and forth on whether I like it or not .. I wish the aperture was smaller .. very nice image .. well worth your injury : )

take care,

John

jimkil (592) 2009-07-12 3:12

Hello Kristine
I nearly have this exact same shot from our time in Bryce, the oranges are beautiful and yes it is bloody cold in the morning, but the picture is worth the wake up call. A place which is unbelievable and one you can not get sick off looking at.
Regards
Jim

scalerman (25741) 2009-07-14 20:32

Kristine: it's been some time. I don't get around TE as once before. Just blasting detail and color here - all of it exceeding but true to life. Excellent in every respect. Henk would've liked this one. c

danos (32588) 2009-07-15 6:53

Hi Kristine,
really a top quality landscape shot with the warm,early morning light that fall on the rocks to make the scene unrepeatable.I like the rock formations as the shadows that make this Nature shot so valuable.Well done.

Regards,Danos

kokoro-zukai (168) 2009-07-16 20:40

Hello Kristine,

I like the title 'sunrise is served', a perfect mantle over the layers of sandstone formation.

Hahaha sooo funny! "Kristine does Wild Wild West" I can picture their faces dropping like that and hoping like what Greg mentioned capturing their expressions.

Best ;)

bostankorkulugu (33656) 2009-07-16 20:48

llooll for the note... the shot seems to be worth the effort K!>:P... cheers... K.

patdeph (17950) 2009-07-17 4:18

hello Kristine
Waooow!Waooow!Waooow!I wonder if I have something else to say!The light,the colors,the landscape are so beautiful,so magic!A fantastic shot!
Regards
Pascale

belido (16577) 2009-07-22 4:23

Hi Kristine,

We all look for this light...and there you were to bring that to us. There was a perfect combination of golden light with the color of the rocks. You did the right thing cutting the sky off, since it would disturb a bit the image reading and all that graphism. Great job!
Regards,
Carlos

coco (27866) 2009-07-22 7:06

And hi again, Kristine.

The composition is nice (as also the place) but the light is what makes the difference.

Regards.

racheltafoya (505) 2009-07-25 17:34

Kristine, you are a die-hard! I laughed when I read your description of your close encounter with the tree branch!

I've been to Bryce Canyon, but that was a long time ago. I was probably 13 years old, if that. It did leave an impression on me, though. The word 'majestic' comes to mind.

The rock formations looks like castle walls in this shot, particularly the one in the foreground. Your diligence to arise that early and engage in fisticuffs with a tree paid off - the lighting in this image is amazing. You might have been freezing but the feel here is very warm, more like at sunset.

Thanks for the lol and the pretty picture ;)

Best Regards,

Rachel

Angshu (33729) 2009-07-27 2:16

Hello Kristine
Just the other day I revisited Henk's picture from Bryce in flickr. He would have been happy seeing this shot, with fine saturated colours and the needles in warm techicolour. Stunning shot indeed with also the strong FG interest of the FG needle. Can stand up with the best shots in TE from this place...and I loved reading your note as well!
Best regards
Angshu

Elaine_Blath (6170) 2009-07-27 3:34

Hello Kristine,

simply fantastic warm light, apart from the fact that this is such an amazing place...well done!

P.S. sorry about the encounter of your face with the branch, happens to me all the time...

Take care, Ivana

skippy007 (7111) 2009-07-27 20:13

Hello Kristine, Amazing landscape, well captured in fine detail & very impressive colour. Not sure if I like your well written note or this image the best, both wonderful & certainly worth a visit to your gallery.
Thank you
Regards
Santo

cherryripe (19031) 2009-07-31 2:48

Hi Kristine
The early morning light is so beautiful here. Which view-point did you take it from ? Love your tight framing.
I like your note. Good thing you had gloves because I remember it being cold too - even in July. We had to get up at 10 past five in the morning though as our accommodation was 6 miles from the park entrance and a 1/2 marathon was going to start from Ruby's at 06am with the access road being blocked from 05:45am.
Regards
Nikki

cdmonson (2753) 2009-08-16 9:33

Hi Kristine:

You beat me--my three visits to Bryce have all been day trips, long after the sun rose. I really like this shot with the light and shadows. However, it seems slightly tilted left looking at the tilt of the spires. Just me, or did you notice it too? But that's a minor issue. The major issue is that this shot is fantastic. Great job.

Clark

alainh (35377) 2009-09-13 22:03

Hello Kristine
what an incredible and fabulous place. i hope to see with my own eyes this Bryce Canon !!!
you have the best light you can, in these forms and textures. Splendid picture
have a nice day Kristine
alain

leo61 (43426) 2009-09-14 9:53

Hi Kristine!
I wrote to many members "whein I`ll ever visit the states this fantastic place will be my first stop.
A great shot of these bizarre rockformations and fantastic colors at sunrise.
Regards,leo

plimrn (19682) 2009-11-07 8:03

Hi Kristine,
The light is perfect, clearly worth the freezing fingers and the hike. The detail is also incredible giving great DOF; I laughed out loud at your note.
HLJ, Pat