Collision Course

I took the first shuttle in to get upstream ahead of everyone, early autumn. The Narrows is a different place when you have it to yourself. The walls hold cold air down at the bottom, the water is brisk on your legs, and the sound of it over the stones fills the whole canyon. There's always some tension carrying gear into a river. Nothing guarantees it stays dry.

I got there while the sun was still working its way down the east-facing wall. That's the timing this shot depends on. The left half of the frame is lit and warm, orange running down the sandstone. The right half is still in deep shadow and goes cool and blue, the same rock reading as a completely different material. A rock in the foreground splits the composition right down the middle, so the two halves meet at a hard line.

Low to the water, long enough exposure to pull the current into streaks around the cobbles. Upstream, the canyon bends and the light comes through gold where it's already reached the top of the far wall.