Photographing the Icons – Finding Your Own Unique Point of View – or Not!

Sunset light on the Watchman, Zion National Park, Utah.

You may be wondering why you have been redirected to this new WordPress site? Well, this is something that I have had on the drawing board for some time. I will still be posting on Aminus3, but adding WordPress to the mix will allow me to be more versatile in the future. Some new features coming later this year will be the introduction to video tutorials. My oldest son Rob has gotten into producing some really funny videos on YouTube and will now (hopefully) teach his old man a thing or two about video editing! Moreover, I will now be able to offer multiple images to help demonstrate some of my post-processing techniques. So without further ado, let’s get on with today’s topic!

When it comes to photographing iconic locations, finding your own unique point of view (POV) can make your image stand apart from the masses. But what happens if one cannot find a different POV? Today’s image was captured from the Highway 9 bridge as it crosses the over the Virgin River just prior to the reaching the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive in Zion National Park, Utah. There have been so many tripods placed at this iconic location that there are actually painted lines (show up early and claim your spot)! So upon arriving with my friend Pierre Steenberg a couple weeks back while on a scouting trip for my upcoming Fall Bryce Canyon/Zion Fall Color Photo Workshop, we both felt we could find something different and unique so off we went. Well guess what? Neither of us could find a location that beat this one. Perhaps that is why iconic locations become, ICONIC!

As I walked up and down the river, I did indeed find different POV’s, but I realized I would be cropping out the beautiful cottonwoods that are prominent when framed from the bridge. Moreover, when I arrive with my group during the first week of November, these cottonwoods will hopefully be displaying vivid yellow fall color that will enhance this scene even more. Add a few clouds catching color and watch the scene become a painter’s palette! So I can hear some of you now, but you’ll have the same image that everyone else has! Well, yes and no.

True, I may have a similar composition (no matter how hard I try to convince myself that I will find something unique – seriously?) but the weather gods and the fall color gods will be the ones to dictate the uniqueness of the image. Will I even attempt to fight the masses with a workshop group of 12 students? Perhaps not. Perhaps we’ll opt to stay in the canyon and photograph fall color. Perhaps we’ll try another location. Perhaps I’ll split the group (something I do when photographing Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park). Perhaps, perhaps ……

Bottom line, I’ll let my workshop group make the final decision – after all, it’s their workshop. I know people attend workshops, in iconic National Parks such as Bryce Canyon and Zion for a reason, they want their own interpretation of the trophy shot. I know many pros who snub their collective noses at iconic locations, opting to find their own unique images elsewhere. I commend them (instead of condemn them) and they should feel the same about those who do want to attempt to make their own images of the popular locations. Really now, what hasn’t been done time and again, ad nausea, when it comes to shooting any iconic location?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic, it’s a fun one to debate over a couple of beers with fellow pros. Personally, I’m in the business of making images. If once in a while I set my tripod legs where the greats before me set theirs, does that really make me any less of a photographer? I’ll find my unique images, but first time to an iconic location, I’ll line up and give it a go!

 Category: Landscape Photography      Tagged: , ,

Leave a comment