Zion is hands-down my favorite place on earth. In time maybe that bold statement may ring untrue but I wouldn’t be surprised if I went to the grave loving Zion the way I do today. I’ve been to Zion four times this year, and each trip I come back excited for my next. Is it the sheer awe-inspiring beauty? Maybe it’s the geology/miles upon miles of slick rock? Or maybe it’s the feeling I get when I make my way into the backcountry, that sense of “all alone.” Actually it’s all of the above and then some.
Zion is where I go for complete isolation among sleeping giants.
My latest trip to Zion was geared toward another backpack out onto the Southeast Slickrock Zone. If you have driven the Mt Carmel hwy 9 into or out of Zion then you know of the slickrock zone. The area resides on the south side of the hwy from Checkerboard Mesa to the main tunnel that descends to the main canyon. That zone is by far the most highly concentrated area of slick rock in Zion and….its unfrequented by people. Access is not easy (and you need a permit,) however I know of at least 3 places that go.
For me, the photographic interest resides in the Grand Scenic/Vistas category. I shoot a lot of pano’s up in there. The slickrock makes excellent foreground and the mountains are big, especially the East Temple that seems to anchor every image I shoot from this area.
Image one is what I call “The Sacrifice.” There’s an eerie feeling I get when I zoom in on the 2000-ft sheer face of the Altar of Sacrifice and I see all that red stain oozing from the summit plateau. It’s as fitting a name to a mountain I know. “The Tower Of Virgins” rest below the summit and for some creepy reason you have to think they are related to the Altar of Sacrifice.
The image is a two shot vertical pano, shot with the sharpest lens I have ever owned, my 70-200 f4. The light isn’t the pinks and reds of a sunrise/sunset or Gap Light but I feel this light does a good job accentuating the mindboggling sheerness of Zion. I processed the image to hopefully show a 3d feel from the foreground slickrock to the wall of Navajo sandstone. The image goes easy at 43x54.
Is the foreground too dark?
Large Image attatched. Lastly, I'm only posting Large images from this trip because grand scenics suck with small images. I can't figure out how to attatch another large image to this thread, so I'll post another thread. That's against the rules I believe...
Beautiful light Kane, and this really captures the massiveness of Zion's walls. The foreground looks great to me, not too dark at all.
Posted by Morris McClung on February 7, 2012 at 12:50 PM
I think your telecomp gives a fine sense of the scale of this place. Beautiful color and light, too. I must see Zion someday!
Posted by Scott Fricke on February 7, 2012 at 5:31 PM
Gorgeous image Kane! You certainly did achieve as much of a 3D feel as you can with a photo, the intervening ridge line helps that quite a bit. I don't think the foreground is too dark, the fact it's slightly darker helps define the separate rock faces.
Posted by John Mumaw on February 8, 2012 at 8:28 PM
This is superb, Kane! Foreground is shaded just right, and those massive monoliths just pop right off of the page thanks to you loading a large image. I really like the snow patches, too.
Discussion
7 repliesZion is where I go for complete isolation among sleeping giants.
My latest trip to Zion was geared toward another backpack out onto the Southeast Slickrock Zone. If you have driven the Mt Carmel hwy 9 into or out of Zion then you know of the slickrock zone. The area resides on the south side of the hwy from Checkerboard Mesa to the main tunnel that descends to the main canyon. That zone is by far the most highly concentrated area of slick rock in Zion and….its unfrequented by people. Access is not easy (and you need a permit,) however I know of at least 3 places that go.
For me, the photographic interest resides in the Grand Scenic/Vistas category. I shoot a lot of pano’s up in there. The slickrock makes excellent foreground and the mountains are big, especially the East Temple that seems to anchor every image I shoot from this area.
Image one is what I call “The Sacrifice.” There’s an eerie feeling I get when I zoom in on the 2000-ft sheer face of the Altar of Sacrifice and I see all that red stain oozing from the summit plateau. It’s as fitting a name to a mountain I know. “The Tower Of Virgins” rest below the summit and for some creepy reason you have to think they are related to the Altar of Sacrifice.
The image is a two shot vertical pano, shot with the sharpest lens I have ever owned, my 70-200 f4. The light isn’t the pinks and reds of a sunrise/sunset or Gap Light but I feel this light does a good job accentuating the mindboggling sheerness of Zion. I processed the image to hopefully show a 3d feel from the foreground slickrock to the wall of Navajo sandstone. The image goes easy at 43x54.
Is the foreground too dark?
Large Image attatched. Lastly, I'm only posting Large images from this trip because grand scenics suck with small images. I can't figure out how to attatch another large image to this thread, so I'll post another thread. That's against the rules I believe...