It had been an amazing day. I had spent the morning shooting sunrise from the Canyon Overlook in Zion National Park. Then I drove south from Zion across the Utah border into Arizona, climbing the Kaibab plateau until I reached the North Rim Visitor Center area of the Grand Canyon.
The late afternoon weather was deteriorating rapidly with the onset of a storm. Winds were howling at 40 to 50 knots, with rain and sleet moving in thick sheets across the canyon in front of me.
After braving the elements at Bright Angel Point (I literally feared being blown off the point into the steep gorge on either side of me), I retreated to a sheltered location to watch and wait for the wind to abate hopefully and the sun to possibly peak through the clouds that were speeding over the canyon. Rain was spitting directly into my face and the camera lens. I would compose and focus the shot, calibrate the camera's position on my tripod's levelling base, rotate the camera facing me, dry the lens, quickly rotate it back into place and then quickly release the shutter.
It was one of those moments when all of the muscle memory of workflow practised taking thousands of images really came together. I was completely lost in the scene, the moment and the experience. When I was finally able to dry out and upload my image files later that evening, I was pleased to see several had turned out well, with excellent exposure, tack-sharp focus and no noticeable water spotting. This image is one of my favorites, and takes me back to the experience I just described whenever I see it.
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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor