Hickman Natural Bridge at Sunrise

I had not originally planned to explore the well-developed central part of Capitol Reef National Park during my October 2025 shoot in the canyon country of southern Utah, but muddy roads and a painful case of plantar fasciitis (pain in my right heel) had forced me to change plans. Now I was glad I did. I first visited Hickman Natural Bridge in late afternoon and was so struck with its impressive 133-foot span that I decided to stay for sunset. While waiting for the light, I used Sun Surveyor to look up the azimuth of sunrise the next day, transferred that azimuth to my mirror-sight compass, and was delighted to find that the sun would rise over a low point along the horizon. If the sky was clear at the horizon – a big if -- then golden sunrise light would rim-light the arch and light up the foreground boulders while the sun produced an elegant sunstar at the horizon.

I hiked back to the arch in the dark the next morning and waited. The lacy cirrus clouds covering most of the sky lit up a soft pink 10 minutes before sunrise. Then the sun began to crest the horizon. Timing now was critical. If I shot too early, the sun would still be mostly hidden behind the skyline and the warm sunrise light reaching the arch would not yet be strong enough to overcome the blue light from the sky; too late, with the sun fully above the horizon, and the flare would be unmanageable. I shot multiple bracketed sequences in rapid succession, finally stopping when it became clear that the flare had become overpowering. When I returned home, I merged the bracketed images from the most promising set and produced one of my favorite images of Capitol Reef National Park.