Dead Tree In Zion National Park

More info about this image

Dead Tree In Zion National Park

Taken just after shooting the Coopers Hawk on the Angel’s Landing hike. My brother-in-law caught this view and I immediately saw that he was onto something and followed him to a better vantage point.

This trip to Zion allowed me to capture images I’ve always wanted, but never had the time or acumen to shoot. When I was a senior in high school we did a family trip over Easter and I had my dad’s Olympus OM-10 with a 50mm that I shot a couple of rolls of black and white (Kodak Tri-X) that I hand developed in the school lab. I hated the stress of standing in the dark, threading the film on the spiral spool. There was always a chance that somebody ganked the spool or the chemical mix was jacked up. Hated the stress of that. None of the shots I took were that good. I made some prints and got okay grades, but it wasn’t until this trip, this year, that I captured images I’m proud of.

Moral? It’s nice to stick with it and see progress. I didn’t have to take that much time apart from my traveling companions to get the shots, but I did have to separate myself mentally to clear my head. But it wasn’t that difficult and I’m happy with the results. More to come…