Bryce Canyon New Year's Weekend

BeachBill

I decided to get the family out of Vegas over the New Year's weekend and thought Bryce Canyon National Park would be a good choice for a change of scenery. On the way there, we stopped in St. George to meet fellow dgrinner Aaron Nelson and pick up my new sweet 24-105mm f/4 L lens. Thanks Aaron! All of these images were shot with this lens.

I was so happy that they have had a lot of snow so far this winter season already. White snow on the red rocks is incredibly beautiful.

#1 Thor's Hammer at Sunrise, January 2, 2009


#2 Sun Star (Anyone know if this rock formation has a name?)


#3 "When I Grow Up..." Sunset at Bryce, January 2, 2009


#4 Pointing the way to Sunrise Point


#5 "I'm a little Snowman, short and stout..."


#6 Common Raven (for my wife)


#7 Most memorable moment, $1.28/gal gasoline, Panguitch, Utah

To put this in context, gas was selling for $1.78/gal in Las Vegas

rwells

Enjoyed your series Bill.

Enjoy that new lens

schmoo

Bill, great work! Gorgeous weather and great light. The shot of the raven is a fantastic capture as well. How close were you for that one ?

The snowman looks like Jabba the Hut

redleash

Nice series! I like #3 and 4 the best. And love your captions--they are right on point!

Lauren

a110p0

Nice series. Love the orange of Bryce Canyon.

Alvin

Erbeman

Wonderful shots!!! I love the colors in #2!!!

kdog

Very nice, Bill. Looks like you had a great trip. I like the sun star and the raven the best. Those ravens are hard to expose properly.

Cheers,
-joel

speedsk8r

Dido also loved the series.

Tango

#3



that lens is sweet. if i say anything further my eyes might tear up....

Candid Arts

Hey it's my caynon(my name is Bryce)!

Bad joke. Well great pictures. Beautiful time to be there. As you said the snow and orange/red looks gorgeous. Congrats on the new lens. I love mine.

coscorrosa

Awesome captures, #2 is my favorite (love the comp, subject, snow, and sun), I also really like the composition on #3 (your title is exactly what I was thinking even before I saw the title), and that's a great Raven shot as well!

I sold my used 24-105 because I got a new one with the 5D MII kit, it's a fantastic lens, and I use it for probably 80% of my landscapes (most of the rest are with the 16-35).

BeachBill

schmoo wrote:

Bill, great work! Gorgeous weather and great light. The shot of the raven is a fantastic capture as well. How close were you for that one ?

The snowman looks like Jabba the Hut

Thanks Schmoo. I was about 2 or 3 feet from the raven. This little guy and his friend were both posing for me and they were not afraid of people. I'm sure they were hoping for some food

I think my son said the same thing about the snowman.

BeachBill

kdog wrote:

Those ravens are hard to expose properly.

Flash helped a lot there, but yes that was the first thing I said to my wife when she told me to get her some pictures of the raven. You might notice two catchlights in the eye. One was my flash, the other was the setting sun.

BeachBill

AaronNelson wrote:

that lens is sweet. if i say anything further my eyes might tear up....

I will keep future pictures to myself to help you get over the loss of this lens .... NOT.

BeachBill

Candid Arts wrote:

Hey it's my caynon(my name is Bryce)!

Well, ya know it used to be called Bryce's Canyon, named after the rancher Ebenezer Brycewho lived there prior to it becoming a national park.

Candid Arts wrote:

As you said the snow and orange/red looks gorgeous. Congrats on the new lens. I love mine.

Even in St. George where I've never seen snow before, the red hills were coated with white making the drive up interstate 15 extremely beautiful as well.

BeachBill

Not wanting to leave anyone out... rwells, redleash, a110p0, Erbeman, speedsk8r, coscorrosa:

Thanks for the nice comments!

grimace

#7 has got to be my favorite with #2 coming in at a close 2nd!! Great series Bill!!

NorthernFocus

Nice set. Beautiful lighting. The contrast between the red rock and snow is excellent

theNOIZ

Bryce Canyon
Bill,

You made mention of your new lens (now known as "precious" ) from Aaron, but you forgot to mention your new 5D.

Great shots! Thor's Hammer is my fave.

Allan FG

#4 really makes me feel like I'm there

The rave shot is the real winner for me.

The problem with trying to capture the beauty of Southern UT is that if you haven't been there you can't appreciate what it really looks like and the photos you bring back have an otherworldly feel to them. This was a great series.

dlplumer

Great set. Love the Raven shot as well.

So I have to ask. How did you get the sun star?