I timed my Utah trip this year to experience the Virgin River Narrows with fall color in early November. Wow! I loved it.

For the shot below, I got to a bend in the river and got consumed exploring the scene photographically. I choose to put the calm water in the foreground with the sandy bench and autumn trees in the mid-ground and the curve of the canyon and its light in the background.

Of course, the Narrows are very popular, and there were lots of people passing through my scene. It was nearly impossible to find a moment with no one in the shot. But I didn’t mind since I knew I could take multiple shots and blend the shots to remove the people. I also worked with long exposures where moving people don’t show in the photo. As long as people were moving I was good. Two people were particularly kind to look at me cautiously when they stepped into my scene. I signaled for them to go ahead, not knowing they planned to sit down and eat lunch …without moving. Eventually they moved on and I got the shot.

I didn’t get much further up the river when I found another captivating scene and took my time to explore compositions. I like the one below as it features the motion of the water.

I spent my whole day photographing in the short distance between these two bends in the river. When I was looking for a better angle for my shot in the scene above, my friend returned from her solo exploration up river. I was trying to find a spot to position myself so as to remove the big boulder from my composition. Instead, when she showed up, I asked her to sit on it.

To see more from this previously shared collection, click here.