Sometimes, in landscape photography, timing is everything.  Sometimes being in the right place at the right time is the difference between a decent photo and a downright amazing one.  When the stars align, or at least the elements do, sometimes I can make beautiful and powerful photographs.  We just had one of those moments which made all the difference in this photo.  It’s a rainbow over Fairyland.

Did you know that there is a part of Bryce Canyon National Park which is free to the public at all hours?  We just learned about that ourselves during our most recent trip to Utah.  Because of where the gate is situated verses where the road is for this area of the park, Fairyland is always accessible to the public for no charge.  It’s a smaller view of the canyon but, as you can see below, that fact doesn’t matter in landscape photography.

When we headed out towards the park, we noticed a small but vibrant rainbow off in the eastern sky.  I wondered if it would still be there when we arrived at the park itself.

As we drove, the rainbow grew faint and disappeared.  Then it reappeared when we got really close to the park.  Thanks to the clouds covering the sun, it was difficult to tell if we would continue to have it.  We hurried to reach our stop at Fairyland.

The rainbow continued with us until we arrived.  Then it faded.  Some clouds moved in front of the setting sun and blocked the refraction effect of the rain.  I was bummed.  However, I started taking pictures anyways and hoped that the clouds would break to reveal the rainbow again.  I was in luck.

Right when we were about to leave and go back home thanks to failing light, the clouds opened up enough that the rainbow reappeared if I was standing in the right place.  I scrambled to get the shot in.  Because of my timing and persistence, I captured this shot of a rainbow over Fairyland in Bryce Canyon.