CROWN OF LIGHT

Checkerboard Mesa in Zion National Park (Utah) takes its name from an interesting pattern of horizontal bedding and vertical fractures. Its most photogenic side faces north and does not get direct sun very early or late in the day. I chose to photograph it a few minutes after sunrise when only the very top of the mesa was directly illuminated, as if crowned. Light reflected from the sky gives well saturated colours in the lower part of the mesa and the foreground boulders.

F/22, 1/6th second, ISO 100
Accepted: Wrekin 2014