seanprudenphotos
The Valley Beyond
The plan was to shoot sunset from the top of Angel’s landing. But half a mile from the top of the peak, that plan seemed a little… ambitious? Dangerous? Reckless? If you’re not familiar with the Angel’s landing hike, the last piece of the hike requires a very steep, very narrow climb 500 vertical feet upwards with nothing but a series of chains and about 3 feet of sandstone on either side of you preventing you from dropping 1500 feet to the canyon floor. All this is compounded by a fairly serious fear of heights, and the fact that if I was going to shoot sunset I’d have to climb down in the dark.
But… I’m stubborn and an engineer and so I did the math and it turns out that only 9 people have died on the trail since 2004 and hundreds of people do this hike every day, so I have like a .000005% chance of falling off and ending my hike a bit earlier than expected. As long as you’re being careful, and it’s not dark and storming, you should be perfectly safe according to the trailhead signs.
So up I go, and upon making it to the top I have learned a couple of things. First, my tripod has a knack for getting caught in the chain on the way up, which has the unfortunate side effect of unexpectedly throwing off my balance. Second, 1500 feet is a very, very, very long way down when you accidently peak over the edge. And third, in the distance are a serious of ominous looking clouds moving quickly towards me, and sure enough, they’re bringing rain.
Now I have a major dilemma. The photographer in me is ecstatic about the conditions: great light, interesting sky, beautiful scenery. Photographer Sean wants to stay at the top of the landing, but engineer Sean is thinking about risk and probabilities and how the mix of conditions is removing a zero or two from the probability that I end up shattered at the bottom of the canyon. It’s a back and forth debate in my mind before Catholic Sean steps in to remind myself that it’s been a minute since I’ve been to confession and I might want to consider that implication if I were to die today. Mind made up, I leave the landing and head back down the trail to set up shop at the viewpoint you see here.
Oh, and if you were wondering, the clouds broke up and the rain stopped right before reaching the canyon, just as I had finished climbing down the chains.
The Valley Beyond
The plan was to shoot sunset from the top of Angel’s landing. But half a mile from the top of the peak, that plan seemed a little… ambitious? Dangerous? Reckless? If you’re not familiar with the Angel’s landing hike, the last piece of the hike requires a very steep, very narrow climb 500 vertical feet upwards with nothing but a series of chains and about 3 feet of sandstone on either side of you preventing you from dropping 1500 feet to the canyon floor. All this is compounded by a fairly serious fear of heights, and the fact that if I was going to shoot sunset I’d have to climb down in the dark.
But… I’m stubborn and an engineer and so I did the math and it turns out that only 9 people have died on the trail since 2004 and hundreds of people do this hike every day, so I have like a .000005% chance of falling off and ending my hike a bit earlier than expected. As long as you’re being careful, and it’s not dark and storming, you should be perfectly safe according to the trailhead signs.
So up I go, and upon making it to the top I have learned a couple of things. First, my tripod has a knack for getting caught in the chain on the way up, which has the unfortunate side effect of unexpectedly throwing off my balance. Second, 1500 feet is a very, very, very long way down when you accidently peak over the edge. And third, in the distance are a serious of ominous looking clouds moving quickly towards me, and sure enough, they’re bringing rain.
Now I have a major dilemma. The photographer in me is ecstatic about the conditions: great light, interesting sky, beautiful scenery. Photographer Sean wants to stay at the top of the landing, but engineer Sean is thinking about risk and probabilities and how the mix of conditions is removing a zero or two from the probability that I end up shattered at the bottom of the canyon. It’s a back and forth debate in my mind before Catholic Sean steps in to remind myself that it’s been a minute since I’ve been to confession and I might want to consider that implication if I were to die today. Mind made up, I leave the landing and head back down the trail to set up shop at the viewpoint you see here.
Oh, and if you were wondering, the clouds broke up and the rain stopped right before reaching the canyon, just as I had finished climbing down the chains.