I had been really missing the chance to go get landscape photos at Bryce Canyon due to the recent health crisis and the fact that everything had closed down.  When things started opening back up, I started keeping an eye on when Bryce Canyon would reopen.  Well, a few weeks ago, it reopened and I took my chance.  Here’s how it went in the desert sun.

Once the national park announced that it would reopen, I paid careful attention to where specifically would be open.  I knew that the whole thing wouldn’t be immediately available.  I was right.  Access was granted to the viewpoints and some of the hiking trails.  I planned my trip for one of those partially accessible trails.

Getting up in the morning for a dawn photo shoot is always a bit of a challenge.  My bed is just so warm and comfortable.  Still, I needed to get out there and get some new landscape photos.  I made the sacrifice.

When arriving, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was barely anyone there.  I basically had the entire place to myself.  Social distancing wasn’t going to be a problem at all.  Making it to my chosen location, however, still could be a problem so I got moving to the Navajo Loop trail head.

Wall Street was not available, due to trail repairs taking place, so I was limited to Thor’s Hammer hoodoo only.  Thankfully, that was my target destination.  Still, I had a bit of a hike to get there in time for beating sunrise.

The sky was minorly interesting so I worked on finding a way to incorporate it into the photo.  After all, it’s much easier to deal with the real sky rather than try to replace it later.  Things don’t match, trees add all sorts of complications, and more.  I prefer to not replace skies in landscape photos if I don’t have to.

As the sun rose, I dialed in my aperture and ISO so that I could get the sunburst I was looking for.  I positioned myself so that the sunburst would be visible next to the hoodoo I had chosen to focus on.  I started snapping away until it got to bright and the sun moved away from the ideal location.

It was a great morning and added some beautiful new photos to my landscape photography portfolio.  I had asked my Instagram followers where they wanted me to go when the park reopened.  It was a surprising answer of the hiking trails.  I think that I might have given them what they wanted: Bryce and the desert sun.