#73 The Watchman

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As I mentioned in my short story for photo #71, this was my first trip to Zion National Park. Just prior to my trip, I thumbed through Outdoor Photographer and saw a twilight photo of the Virgin River with the Watchman in the background and knew I wanted to photograph it while in Zion.

Upon arriving in the park and securing a campground site which would be home for the next six nights, I started my usual scouting for images I thought would be appealing. I scouted around the Temple of Sinawava until it got too dark to see, so I was not aware of the number of photographers that line the bridge overlooking the Virgin River each night in pursuit of a trophy image.

The next night I decided to go to the bridge just prior to sundown for a photo of the Watchman, and to my surprise I could not squeeze in between photographers that were lined up two deep almost clear across the bridge.

Being somewhat intelligent, I arrived the next night one and a half hours before sundown to claim my spot on the bridge. I got what I considered the prime position overlooking the Virgin River with the Watchman in the upper left part of my composition; however, sundown for the next two nights brought lackluster skies. The third night was a charm as color in the sky started to intensify as light lingered on the Watchman just long enough for me to compose three frames while adjusting my three stop graduated filter . . . enjoy!

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