One thing about doing wedding photography and portrait photography is the pictures are always a little different. Even if they’re in the same venue or favorite shooting location, the pictures never repeat. Different people, different weather, slightly different compositions, maybe use the Profoto light a little differently - the results always end up looking different.

This picture of The Narrows in Zion National Park looks almost exactly like every other picture I’ve ever seen from this same exact location, I balanced it to look about like what I saw. Here it is again with the Apple Photos Vivid look.

The Vivid pops out the reds and greens a little more and is the way many modern photographers do their photos. Sometimes people do the saturation WAY over the top and the pictures look like they’re from another planet. I really don’t like that look.

Here’s Vivid Cool, which brings out the blues in the shadows and does a color contrast with the warm wall at the far end. I actually like this because it emphasizes the warm color and brings your eye into the picture to see the red. If I were to rework this picture, this would be the trick I would use. It’s not necessarily what I saw, but it could be along the lines of what a film like Fuji Velvia would’ve seen in this instance. Velvia made shadows go blue and these shadows would go blue with that film.

So even though this picture has been done by every single person with every kind of camera, it’s still fun to see one. Especially if it’s one I did myself. Because a picture only captures a single solitary moment. They don’t capture what a place felt like, smelled like, or sounded like. These pictures of The Narrows certainly don’t capture what it’s like to do the hike to this section of the Virgin River. It’s easily one of my favorite hikes anyplace. A person should just put hiking The Narrows on their bucket list and go do it. I imagine the park service will soon have a lottery to do the hike if they don’t already have one. When you go, stand in this spot with your iPhone or camera on a tripod and get this picture. Then enjoy having it because it reminds you of what it was like to be there, to have hiked through the Virgin River, and to have made your way to Zion National Park, and .