Zion – But Isn’t This Also About the Raven?
©Bert Gildart: This, I submit, would have been a compelling photograph without the raven, but doesn’t its presence, though tiny, really tell the story of this magnificent setting in Zion National Park?
Yesterday, I was driving the Mount Carmel Highway dominated on either side by Navajo Sandstone, when I came across this powerful sweep of rock and color. Climbing the cliff face I set up my tripod then noticed several ravens flying in the distance.
Wouldn’t it dramatize this scene if one of the ravens silhouetted itself where the sky is so incredibly blue?
To make this picture work one of the ravens had to fly into that precise spot. Then it had to cant its wings else the composition wouldn’t have worked. Reading my mind, the raven performed precisely as I had wished.
Zion, yes, but isn't this image also about the raven?
WORLD OF THE RAVEN
The setting also required the use of an extreme wide angle lens to dramatize the world which the raven surveys. In other words, the story is certainly about artistic lines, but the presence of ravens creates a feeling of supremacy. Though the raven may not rule this country its presence adds grace no matter where it is, and that’s something I’ve commented on before.
A friend of mine, Rich Charpentier, makes good use of such settings as he has recently shown us in a trip to Arizona’s White Pockets. Rich is an excellent photographer and a superb print maker as well. He offers educational workshops validated by many testimonials. When I return home I believe Janie and I will commission him to create a large print for our home use.
As well, I’ll be forwarding the image to my photo agent who has been doing well for me with the sale of images, particularly those of birds. And certainly I’ll be using the image to illustrate a story I am producing for Rich Luhr, and his Airstream Life magazine.
Today the bright sunny skies have been replaced by thick overcast clouds, dramatizing the fact that Monida Pass, the major pass we must cross to return to our home in Montana, is now being slammed by blizzard conditions.
Horrible, isn’t it, that prudence suggests we hang out in Zion until conditions improve?
———————————————————————-
THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:
ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS
March 31st, 2010 at 10:58 am
Of all the animals that frequent Zion, and the interior of Alaska as well, the raven stands tall as the “eye in the sky”. The raven always knows where to be and when. He seems to be the wind spirit embodied. Great picture and connection! I love Zion…enjoy!
March 31st, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Oh Bert…..I wish I was up in Zion with you. The landscape there is amazing to say the least. Then there’s Bryce, Route 12, and all the rest! Enjoy your layover there!
March 31st, 2010 at 4:31 pm
“Eye in the Sky” and “Wind Spirit” say it all — and may become titles for stories I’d one day like to do. Thanks!
Mike, incidentally, runs Gold Camp at Chicken, Alaska and knows much from hard experience about gold mining and general survival in the harshest of all conditions.