Landscape Photo Mag – May 2020 Publication

The American Southwest offers some of the most picturesque landscapes in the world. Being from Arizona, I have had access to these landscapes for years and I have, maybe, only been able to experience half of what the southwest has to offer. This image was taken in Bryce Canyon, one of the five National Parks in Utah, on a very cold winter, December morning. Bryce Canyon offers stunning landscape all months out of the year. Whether you are visiting during the warm summer months where you can witness intense monsoon weather or you are visiting during my favorite season, winter, you are in for some amazing views.

I planned a short weekend trip to photograph in Bryce Canyon for a weekend. It had been snowing off and on for the last week and a half before my trip. So I knew that I was going to have exquisite snow covered hoodoos to photograph during my short time there. Which is exactly what I was hoping for. I woke up this morning to 15 degree weather and some perfect conditions. I made my way to Thor’s Hammer and carefully made my way down the icy trail to get to my spot. I brought two cameras with me for this shoot. One to capture a wide scene and one to zoom in on all of the hoodoos.

As the sun began to rise the sky exploded. Displaying one of the best sunrises I have been able to experience. I think I walked away from this shoot with 5-6 images that I was very happy with and this was only the first stop of the weekend. About 20 minutes later giant storm clouds rolled through and put an abrupt stop to my shooting for the rest of the trip. It took me by surprise as it was supposed to be a clear weather forecast but the snowstorm lasted for two days with almost zero visibility. Even though the entire weekend didn’t go as planned, the drive up here was still worth it to experience the amazing light behind Thor’s Hammer.