15 Nov
2010

Posted in: Autumn, Zion National Park
By Ian Plant    6 Comments

The Crack below the Subway, Zion National Park

The Crack, also known as the Chute, is an oft-photographed feature just below the famous Subway in Zion National Park. Here, the Left Fork of North Creek is funneled through a narrow crack in red sandstone (hence the name), making it a very photogenic place. Unfortunately for me—thanks to a little accident involving stupidity and gravity in equal measure—I almost wasn’t able to make this photograph.

"The Crack" - Zion National Park

Right after the conclusion of my Zion workshop, I hiked into the Subway with one of my workshop participants and good friend Juan Garcia. We got a bit of a late start, but with a steady pace we managed to pass most of the other photographers on the trail that morning. I was eager to get to Arch Angel Falls, a stop along the way to the Subway, without anyone else there, so that I would be free to select a composition to my liking without having to jostle for position with other shooters. Juan stopped to photograph a small cascade along the creek, so I pressed on ahead, passing a few other photographers on the way. I made it to Arch Angel Falls and had the whole place to myself! Feeling quite full of myself for having passed everyone else, I set up my tripod and locked my camera onto my ball head. It was only a few seconds later, upon hearing a dull crash, that I realized that I had not locked my camera onto the ball head correctly. That’s the stupidity part of the equation. Gravity, being an opportunistic go-getter, took care of the rest.

My camera had fallen several feet to the ground, lens first. Although the camera was fine, the lens was shattered beyond repair. It was, unfortunately, the only lens I had with me at the moment. The Subway is a tough hike, so I packed light, bringing with me only my 17-40mm zoom lens, the only lens I was likely to need. As I cursed my stupidity and gravity’s single-minded pursuit of bringing things quickly to the ground, Juan caught up with me. Upon seeing my catastrophe, he graciously offered to let me borrow his camera when he was done shooting. Considering my luck with equipment, it was a very gracious offer indeed.

After taking turns photographing Arch Angel Falls (turns out the water levels were too low for my liking), we pressed on. Leaving behind a gaggle of photographers at the falls, we got to the Crack with no one else around. While Juan set up a shot, I scattered some maple leaves that I had picked up on the trail, a time-honored tradition among Crack photographers. After Juan took his shots, he let me use his camera to take mine. I got in low and close using a wide-angle lens, hoping to find a unique perspective. One of the canyon walls in the background was lit by the sun, bouncing beautiful reflections into the water around the leaves. I used a polarizer filter, turned only slightly, to reduce some of the glare on the wet rocks and leaves without getting rid of the colorful reflections.   

Of course, the Crack has been photographed so many times before, even my “unique” perspective has likely been done already many times. So instead of unique, I guess I will call it a “less commonly photographed” perspective. Which, in this day and age, is sometimes as good as you can get!

Technical details: Nikon D3X camera, 16-35mm lens (@16mm), polarizer filter, ISO 400, f/16, 1/5 second. Yep, I turned to the dark side, if only for one day! 

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About Ian Plant  (275 Posts)

Ian Plant's photographs and instructional articles have appeared in a number of books, calendars, and magazines, including Outdoor Photographer and Popular Photography. Ian writes a regular blog column for Outdoor Photographer online, and he is the author of numerous instructional eBooks and digital processing tutorials. Ian leads several photo tours each year.