Picture Tales: Canyons - Image 01

Bryce Canyon is easy to photograph provided only a snapshot is required. Buses disgorge hundreds of people in to well-organised viewpoints, the passengers hurry to the edge, take their pictures and disappear. What no one seems to tell them is that the best light for worthwhile images disappeared before they sat down to breakfast in their various hotels.

This image was taken from Sunrise Point, one of the locations visited every day by hundreds of tourists. But it was taken at 0610 as the sun emerged above far-off hills and the first rays of low-angle light struck the hoodoos. The warm red glow lasted no more than five minutes before its colour bleached and the shadows began to shorten. By 0700 the canyon walls were pale yellow and many of the longer shadows had gone.

At the end of October, when this image was taken, the pre- dawn temperature on the edge of the canyon at 7,500 feet above sea level was well below freezing point. I arrived in total darkness and set up a tripod, a remote release and so on, and then packed my camera back into its bag to keep the batteries warm. Only in the moments before the sun emerged did I slot it back on to the tripod and begin shooting. This particular image was taken on Fuji Velvia 50 using an exposure of 5 seconds at f/8. However I took many others, both before and after the image seen here, using quite different exposures. Emerging light changes very rapidly at dawn so it is important to check exposure for every image.