Another full day on the tour today starting with sunrise at the iconic overlook at Horseshoe Bend where the Colorado River (1,000 feet below the overlook) makes an almost 360 degree turn. The morning sun is just hitting the cliffs in the distance.

Then it was off to walk through Upper Antelope Canyon for some more colorful canyon light photographs. The image below has just a small portion of a light beam as it enters the canyon from above.

You are able to walk through Upper Antelope Canyon without having to descend any ladders.  This canyon is a little more open than Lower Antelope and easier to navigate.

Next we drove out to the Paria Townsite located in Utah within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  This is an area where a number of movies have been filmed since the 1930s. It is a place with incredible  color and banding on the hillsides.  It was really spectacular.

At the end of this day, we hiked into the Rimrocks and Toadstools area of the Paria River Country for a sunset shoot.  One of the well-known features of this place is the Red Toadstool which I photographed in the after-sunset light glow.

The area around Page, AZ has a number of the most unique landscapes in the country, some of which are underground.  This is Lower Antelope Canyon. Access to the canyon requires squeezing through a very narrow slit in the earth at ground level and descending down steep metal ladders that are bolted to the canyon walls.

The colors are created from the reflected light of the sun as it bounces off the canyon walls producing a range of colors from bright orange to deep purple.

The canyon walls are carved by water which eventually drains into Lake Powell. Antelope Canyon is located just a few miles from Page on the Navajo reservation and consists of two parts, the Lower and the Upper.

For sunset today, we drove out to a remote area called Stud Horse Point which features several hoodoos that give the landscape an alien appearance.  The soft glow of reflected twilight brings out the colors in the sandstone and the sky in the photograph below shows the earth shadow created by the setting sun.

This morning we traveled over to the eastern end of Zion National Park in the area of Checkerboard Mesa, stopping to make a couple of images of this often photographed solitary tree that clings to the side of the sandstone.

While driving in the area, Joe noticed something moving quickly in the distance.  As we drove closer, we came upon a small group of Bighorn Sheep, a rare sighting in Zion.  There are less than a hundred of these sheep currently in the park so we took advantage of the opportunity to photograph them on the hillside.

This afternoon we photographed along a stream searching out more intimate scenes. In the morning we leave Zion to head towards Page, Arizona.

Today the schedule was to hike The Narrows starting before noon, but first, we arrived in the dark of early morning at the Towers of the Virgin to shoot the sunrise. The sky was cloudless this morning so we waited for the Towers to catch the saturated color of early sun light.

After this session,we headed back to the hotel to put on our rented dry suits and grab our dry bags for today’s walk up the Virgin River in Zion Canyon in a section called The Narrows. The canyon walls reach up to 2,000 feet and at times the width of the Virgin River stretches from wall to wall.  Most of the hike is spent in the cold water of the river stepping on very slippery rocks that have the shape of bowling balls. The effort is worth it though because the scenery is spectacular.

Even though the water level was never more than mid-thigh, the strength of the current in places forced me to slow down and concentrate on not dunking myself and my camera equipment into the water, but taking my time also allowed me to enjoy the view longer.

Amazing views were everywhere you looked and every bend of the canyon brought new compositional options.

This morning we arrived at the Court of the Patriarchs to shoot the sunrise, along with photographer Ian Plant.  The clouds lit up as if they were on fire for a few short moments.  I was late to the spot and missed most of the show in the sky. Unfortunately, Ian had a slight misadventure (read about it here) during the ‘epic’ light. However, Joe Rossbach captured a stunning image (see it here).

The trees in Zion were ablaze with color.  I understand that the color appeared later than normal this year, which was good for us.

We ended the day at sunset on the bridge overlooking the iconic view of the Watchman.  The clouds were not really cooperating but a few showed some color as they passed high overhead.  I used a wide angle lens to try and capture a little sky color.  Tomorrow… The Narrows.

Today began a nine day tour with Joseph Rossbach to photograph locations in the Southwest United States.  The tour started in Zion National Park in Utah and during this first evening we took a short hike on the River Walk to photograph the great color of the Cottonwood trees along the Virgin River.

The color of the trees really stood out from the river and the canyon walls.  We planned to hike up The Narrows later in the tour where we will be hiking IN the river and our short hike this evening gave us a little taste of what we will see in The Narrows. This was a good start to the tour and I was eager for the sunrise shoot the next morning.

Last night, there was a very colorful sunset and I hoped for similar conditions at sunrise this morning at Great Falls park.  I wasn’t disappointed as the sky lit up just before sunrise while adding a little color to the Potomac River.

After the sunrise show was over, I moved closer to river, coming across a small swirling pool of water. An exposure of 4 seconds captured the patterns on the water.

The leaves on the trees at the park have started to turn gold and brown and many have been knocked off the trees by rain and wind this week.  However, the early morning light from the sun adds some color back to the trees and casts a nice glow on the rocks in the river.

While the leaves at Great Falls have stated to fade, my front yard has captured a nice collection of colorful leaves.  Seems a shame to have to rake…..