Zion – Photography Workshop

Zion – November 2010

This travel journal is a little different from what I ordinarily do. This time I’m at a location to be totally immersed in my photography. Normally when I’m traveling I take the camera along in case I see something. This time I’m going to a cool place to focus on just taking photos. This turned out to be a really rewarding exercise on several levels! I love spending time in nature, and to be so focused on just taking photos every day was a lot of fun. It was also wonderful to share the time with a friend who has an intense passion for photography (not to mention how interesting she is to just sit and talk with). I would recommend that everyone make some time and space to totally immerse themselves in their passion every once in a while. It will take your skills to the next level.

A few months ago, a girlfriend, Insu, asked me if I’d be interested in taking a photography workshop with Ian Plant, in Zion National Park. Yes, yes, yes! It sounded like great fun. I think I take pretty good photos, but I also think I’m lacking on the technical side of things. This seemed like a great opportunity to address some of that. Ian Plant is a wonderful nature photographer who takes some incredible photos. You can see his work here and even download some wonderful instructional e-books he’s written. The e-books are beautiful to look at, and  are also chock full of great information on how to take better photos. In person, and in his writing, he’s generous with his information and suggestions.

The first week of November finally arrived and we packed up Insu’s car and set out for Zion. We arrived on Sunday, the day before the class started. It is a seven hour ride from San Diego and we wanted to be awake and ready to go the day of the class. Most of the group was staying at the Historic Pioneer Lodge in Springdale, so we stayed there too. It is a really nice hotel right outside the entrance to Zion. I think that they must have recently renovated the rooms because everything seemed new and very clean. When I heard historic, I was thinking it might be old and drafty! I would  recommend staying here. The rooms were really nice and the staff was extra friendly. You can get details on the Pioneer Lodge at their website.

Monday

Insu and I decided to get up early and go do a  sunrise shot on our own. We had gotten directions from a gallery owner on a close spot to catch the sunrise. We had looked at the map the night before and didn’t think we had far to go. In the dark we missed the small signs for the trail we wanted, and drove straight out Mount Carmel Highway. We ended up on the other side of the tunnels at Checkerboard Mesa. We saw a photographer standing on the side of the road in the dark, so we were pretty sure this would be a good spot anyway. We parked in the parking lot just past Checkerboard and got some great shots of the sun throwing light onto East Temple on the Zion.

Both Insu and I did not expect it to be so cold in the morning. Last night when we went to dinner we wore jackets and ate outside. But Checkerboard Mesa is up in elevation from the hotel and the wind blowing through the canyon makes it cooler. And it is always colder in the early morning hours in the mountains. We both got a chill and were happy to be done shooting (we did stay out until the sun was up all the way, and there were no more shots) and back in the warm car. Tomorrow we will be better prepared and bundle up better!

It was pitch dark when we drove out to Checkerboard Mesa. We were in for a treat on the drive back in. I had been to Zion before, but it was a while ago and I had forgotten how colorful the walls were. It was a gorgeous ride back through the tunnel toward Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. We stopped and took photos along the way.

We had time so we turned up Zion Canyon Scenic Drive to check out Angles Landing (another friend said it was her favorite hike out here so we wanted to see some of it if we could). The light reflecting on the river was just gorgeous and we stopped a few places to take some photos. By the time we had gotten to Angles Landing we realized we needed to head back to meet the group.

We met, and got acquainted with, everyone over lunch at the Lodge restaurant. There were thirteen of us, but Ian managed to spend time with everyone. There was a wide range of talent and some exceptional photographers in the group. I was thrilled that everyone was willing to share tips and rotate in and out of tight shooting locations, so everyone got a chance to try everything. Insu had talked about getting up at 4 am and coming in late. Most of the workshops she had done were in the summer. With the short days we didn’t have to hit the road until 7 am. Sunset was around 6:30 so we even had dinner at a civilized time!

Ian’s plan was to drive back out to Checkerboard Mesa for sunset shooting. Along the way we stopped at a canyon and learned about shooting in locations with reflected light. The steep canyon walls bounce the light back and forth and there is more color in the canyon than you’d expect (since you first see them in shadow).

We spend a good amount of time exploring this area and then moved on to Checkerboard Mesa. This time we were on the  other side of the Mesa where the “bonsai” tree is. Ian pointed out where we wanted to be at sunset. There were some lines in the rocks that would become really dramatic with the shadows at sunset. We had some time so we examined the back lighting on some trees. We worked our way down into the wash and examined the various textures in the sand and rock formations.

At sunset we all regrouped at the top to shoot the mesa. After all the milling around and taking our time, we were suddenly moving fast. Once the sun gets close to setting it appears to be moving faster – and the light goes away quickly. Ian did a shot so we could see how to make the dramatic lines point to the mesa. We worked as a group and took turns shooting from different spots. Then as the shadows moved forward we adjusted our positions to get the next best spot. It was great to see so many people able to take photos like that, and not get in each others images. This was a great spot for extra wide angle lenses, which means you don’t want anyone standing forward of your position (or they end up in the edge of your shot). I was impressed that Ian was able to keep the group moving and still organized.

We ate dinner as a group at Oscars. Insu and I had been there the night before and it was excellent so we were glad to go back again. I felt like we had a really successful first day out.

Tuesday

Tuesday we met in the parking lot at 7 am. We went over to Towers of the Virgin (behind the museum). I was surprised that there were already a decent group of people there when we showed up. Some places just are classic and there really is just one place to be to get the shot. This seems to be one of them. We are cursed with good weather this week. The skies are totally clear. That’s a bummer because the clouds would catch all the beautiful pink and blues that you get with the sunrise. First time in a national park that I was hoping for some rain clouds to pass through – that really enhances any photo!

After Towers of the Virgins we moved out to Weeping Rock. This is an interesting area that looks like it was carved out of the wall with an ice cream scoop. You end up under the ledge and the wall is dripping between you and the view. There is all kinds of plant life growing on the walls. The is an excellent spot for textures and color.

We then moved on to The Grotto and the Virgin River. This was probably my favorite spot of the trip, because I learned about shooting slow motion abstracts of the reflections on the river. I had been experimenting with this in Yellowstone and couldn’t figure out how to do it. My biggest mistake was trying to shoot in direct sunlight. This area was shaded, but there were lots of brilliant patches of gold and blue on the water – light reflected from the canyon walls. I love shots where it takes a minute to figure out what the photo really is, or what scale things are at. It’s more interesting sometimes if these things aren’t so obvious. This exercise was total play – I enjoyed it a lot.

We had lunch on our own today. Insu and I found tiny little place called Blondies. It looks like a hole in the wall, but the food was very good. The portions were huge too! After lunch  we regrouped and headed out to Kolob Canyons. This is about an hour from Springdale. You drive back out to I-15 and head north. We stopped at a pullout with yellow cottonwood trees that were beautifully back lit, and took some photos.

We moved on to Kolob Canyon viewpoint. It was a beautiful spot with lots of scrub and rock formations it the foreground – and great vertical mountains in the distance. There was a large boulder with leading lines in it that made for a great foreground, but the setup was a little precarious. The wind was howling and you are up on this rock that you have to get all the way back to the edge of to take the shot. I sat down so that I didn’t get distracted and step off backwards!

Wednesday

This morning we went to The Patriarchs for our sunrise shots. There were good reflections here, but it was a little harder to get in the right places to shoot them. The edges of the river were getting overgrown. The best shots were in the river with the half submerged rocks as the foreground. This was another good spot to experiment with some abstract reflections too.

After the Patriarchs we moved to Emerald Pools. This was a very cool spot. We ended up spending all of our time at the lower pool. The light was just perfect when we arrived here and just got better as we circled the pool. I think I got my best shot of the trip at this location. There was a spot where a sunbeam was highlighting a log in a waterfall. The light almost looked like a spotlight. I should have been using a polarizer here. It would have helped with the intense highlights form the water — but I’m still happy with what I got.

I got a little more exercise on this trip than planned. I left my tripod up at the pools when we were done – and didn’t notice until I was all the way back down at the car. Insu and I were riding with Ian so he offered to wait while I ran back up (so glad we hadn’t made it to the upper pool). Insu got to pick Ian’s brain while I was retrieving my tripod. The upside of my extended trip was we got to have lunch with Ian and got to pick his brain a little more about photography.

After lunch Ian showed us his 5 step photoshop process, for processing RAW images. I liked how it worked on some of my images. I’ve been using LightRoom and like it most of the time. It looks like both methods have some tools that work better in some cases. I will be playing with this a bit more to see how I can get the best results from my images.

On the way to the evening shoot we stopped at the Canyon Junction Bridge to take photos of the back lit cottonwood trees in the valley (they had changed to brilliant yellow almost overnight – earlier in the week they were still mostly green). Then we went to Big Bend. The trees were just starting to change in Big Bend. There were subtle spots of red down here. This was also a good spot to do some slow motion photography of the water. We caught the last of the light at the Temple of Sinawava. This was an incredibly popular spot. There was a lot of reflected light here. And with the twists and openings in the canyon walls you go lite up views in the distance we hadn’t expected.

Thursday

We drove out past the tunnel to Canyon overlook for our sunrise shooting. This was a beautiful location. It was an interesting hike out here through a rocky pass. I had wanted to be up here earlier, but I’m sure it would be a bit dangerous to hike this in the dark. It was a bit windy up here, but we were all bundled up so it was OK.

We decided to get our lunch to go and eat while we had another computer session. This time we had a little show and tell of everyone’s work. I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s work. There was such variety in what we all liked to shoot. Clearly we had some skilled people in the class.

After class we got our gear together and went back down to Temple of Sinawava. Several of us had wanted to spend more time there. And another group wanted to go back to Big Bend to get a shot that you had to wade out into the middle of the river to get. I had found a great spot in the temple to get reflections and was happy to stay there. This area is the bottom of the famous Narrows hike in Zion. The walls are very vertical, there are lots of trees, and lots of water. It is a really nice place to hang out. We caught up with the rest of the group at Big Bend and then moved on to The Grotto to catch the last of the reflections on the river.

Friday

On our last day we all agreed to be up and ready to go by 6 am! We were going to visit Kolob Plateau and get some star trail shots before sunrise, then hang out in that location for sunrise. We couldn’t see a thing on the way out there. Glad that Ian had pre-scouted the site and knew there was a drop off where we wanted to stand! I had never taken shots of the stars and was curious how they would come out. It was fun to see the results. Insu got some spectacular blue sky in one of her shots. The area had been burned out a while back and there were lots of standing dead trees. It was interesting to see how the changing light brought the trees to life. Just before sunrise it just looked like a bunch of dead trees. With some side lighting they become a lot more interesting. It was a cool spot.

This was officially the end of our trip. I really think taking this photography workshop was worthwhile. Ian was very knowledgeable and shared a lot of information. Our fellow classmates were all interesting and fun to spend time with. And how cool is it to spend almost five full days just shooting photos? I have to say, very cool! To be this immersed in something helps take you to the next level. I hope to make regular picture taking a habit. I’d like to see if I can get some more artistic shots when I go out. Seems like a worthwhile goal!