After a hectic holiday season, Virginia and I finally took a much needed long weekend break in Southern Utah. We left early Thursday morning on the tail-end of a small snowstorm and drove to Ivins, where we enjoyed temperatures approaching the 60’s. It was wonderful to escape the snow and cold for a few days, hike in the red rock country, and hang out with the in-laws. On the way south, we stopped at our favorite hot spring for a 3-hour soak before continuing on our way. I spent Friday exploring the east side washes in Zion National Park looking for ice formations. Many years ago, I photographed ice crystals in this area and after reviewing them several weeks ago, I decided I wanted to revisit them and take another series of images. I’ve improved my photographic skills over the years and thought this would be a good opportunity to make a recapture.

Here I was in the middle of a beautiful national park with towering sandstone cliffs all around me. Magnificent desert vistas filled my view in every direction, with hardly another soul around. Massive walls of rock streaked in desert varnish shaded the drainages in that area of the park allowing ice to linger in the dark narrow depths. With all that incredible scenery, my only interest was capturing intimate photographs of ice crystals at my feet.

In the last 10-12 years of my photographic pursuits, I’ve studied techniques and skills of capturing grand landscapes. When I look at my earlier work I notice I spent more time and attention on the details. I made beautiful compositions from a single leaf, an interesting stone, or a beautiful wildflower specimen. In the drive to master the landscape, I’ve purchased a bagful of camera gear, learned to compose images with sky and clouds, create balance and symmetry, framed photographs with trees and cliff walls. And in all those years I seem to have drifted away from the details that make up the whole of the landscape. I’ve thought about this a lot over the last six months and nurtured a desire to once again look at the intimate building blocks in nature.

I don’t think I’ll abandon the grand landscapes with beautiful sunrises and sunsets, but I’ll certainly give greater attention to individual elements that lay at my feet or within arm’s length along the trail.

A particular phenomenon that I noticed Friday morning was in the layers of ice within the washes. Last week heavy rains pounded southern Utah. These washes must have filled with the runoff. As the temperature dropped, ice formed on the surface. Then as the water receded, another layer of ice formed, and then the water level dropped again either by further runoff or seepage into the ground. What I found on my hike were great ice structures, delicate and beautiful in a tiered formation. It was difficult to capture the dimensional quality of the interlacing ice patterns.

Lastly, my son and his newly wedded wife, also traveled down to Ivins to visit. Because their wedding came about in a bit of a flurry three weeks ago, they didn’t get everything accomplished they wanted. Their reception is in another two weeks and they wanted bridal portraits taken in a warmer setting. Last evening, we drove into Snow Canyon and staged a series of photographs amid the red sandstone petrified dunes. It was a gorgeous setting to make these images. I used a single strobe with a shoot-through umbrella to light their faces. The backlight came by benefit of the natural bright sky at sunset. I underexposed the background by one stop and then balanced the skin tones with the fill flash. It was a simple setup in a stunning environment. It’s been a great weekend and a well-earned rest. And now it’s back to the grind at home and work. We’ll eagerly await the next adventure.