Zion National Park

Balancing Act : A visual conversation about the tension between exploring and protecting the natural world, both in the environment and within ourselves. Preparing for my artist-in-residence at Zion National Park, I faced a daunting challenge. More than 4 million people visited the park the previous year, most of them with a camera. Legendary and iconic photographers also have captured scenes of this extraordinary place. What could I offer to the visual conversation that was different than everyone before me? (click to read more)

More than two thousand feet above Zion Canyon, a bird whips past Observation Point free to ride the currents and drafts, while a rock climber is suspended but still tethered to earth in slot canyon of the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park. While our National Parks give us the freedom to explore and push ourselves as individuals, we are still limited by our human form and reminded of its fragility. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
Both carrying what they need with them, a threatened desert tortoise scrambles up a hillside having evolved and adapted to this harsh terrain, while a hiker with his backpack climbs up the treacherous ledge trail to Angel's Landing with the assistance of steel chains. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The normally wide, trickling Left Fork has chiseled down into a crack in the riverbed in one hundred-yard section, finding the most direct route. The man-made trail to Angel's Landing, one of the park's most popular and treacherous hikes, twists upward, carrying thousands of visitors each day. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
Shuttle bus passengers experience nature as many of us do, through windows and with our electronic devices. Three miles of cold river hiking up the Left Fork rewards with a stair-step cascade on the way to the iconic Subway. More than 15 years ago Zion became the first national park to permanently institute a shuttle bus system for the most popular section of the park and by most accounts it has been seen as a major and convenient success. The shuttles, as convenient as they are, will not carry visits to places that can only be seen through exertion, determination, and discomfort. To truly see what our parks have to offer, one must be uncomfortable. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The body of a hiker killed in a flash flood, right, is suspended from a helicopter as it is recovered from a difficult-to-access slot canyon and flown past the grand mountains that frame the entrance to Zion Canyon. It was a sobering and public, yet intimately private moment. Seven hikers had died in a flash flood while canyoneering, an activity that involves repelling into narrow slot canyons. In contrast, a graceful waterfall that only appears when there is a flood joins the Virgin River at the Temple of Sinawava, the head of the legendary Narrows hike. This pairing most represents the delicate balance between beauty and disaster in an unforgiving landscape. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A flash flood swells the Virgin River, carving it's way through Zion Canyon, as it has for millennia. More recently, paved roads - the hallmark of progress - allow easy vehicular access to the Kolob Canyons in the northwest section of the park. For a century the National Park Service has struggled with the dual mandates of preservation and development. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
Free to explore, a young girl sheds her shoes to climb a waterfall in Water Canyon near Hildale, Utah, right. On the steep, four-mile trail to Observation Point a root finds a similar, meandering foothold. Life of all kids moves forwards, upwards, towards the light. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A fawn follows its mother along a hillside in Zion canyon while a pair of hikers follows the paved, steep series of 21 switchbacks knows as Walter's Wiggles, which Zion's first superintendent Walter Ruesh designed to allow visitors and livestock access to the top of the canyon. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A predator-killed deer carcass slowly returns to the earth, while walking sticks are returned to the head of the Narrows trail for other hikers to use. The natural cycle of life has always been at odds with our desire and right to use the natural resources that this land has to offer. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
With elbows caused by unknown factors, a tree root crosses the Canyon Overlook trail. All muscles and elbows, a hiker enjoys the view from the top at Angel's Landing. Whether it is for survival or accomplishment, our limbs carry us to our goals. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The passing of a flash flood is marked by curling dried mud on the canyon floor of Clear Creek, where some of the bodies of seven hikers were found in the aftermath. Visitors to the Narrows, a wet and cold hike up the Virgin River, leave muddy handprints on the canyon walls, an ancient yearning to mark our passage in this world. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A man memorializes his 1,500-foot ascent to Angel's Landing with the instant gratification of a selfie stick. Meanwhile, a log lodges between a boulder and the towering cliffs of the Narrows, awaiting the next flash flood to move it downstream, part of nature's slow but steady progress. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
Ancient petroglyphs marking the passage and survival of people in a harsh environment seem to mimic the immutable forces naturally etched in stone that created such a difficult landscape. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The natural arch of a tree frames a peak in Zion Canyon. In the Kolob Canyons, the arch of a car door frames the view, which is how many people experience our parks, from their car. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
Miles into the slot canyon known as the Narrows, the sun flares past a huge boulder in the Virgin river. Being in nature encourages quiet moments of contemplation, as for this hiker at Scout's Landing. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
In the permit-only Left Fork canyon, cascading stair-step waterfalls beckon the way to the iconic Subway. Ledges and steps were carved into the stone to lead hikers into Hidden Canyon in a different eraÑ1928. While visitor access has always been a driving force for the National Park Service, the means, in terms of environmental impact, have changed drastically since its inception. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A tree slowly tumbles down a cliff along the Canyon Overlook trail, while a man-made ladder allows hikers to climb a waterfall in Kanarra Creek. In contrast to the natural cycle of dissolution, we are compelled to build and create. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
Swirls of burled wood and undulating stone attest to the passage of time in an ancient landscape, while a man driving cross-country passes through, barely stopping to take a few photos. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A gnarled tree frames the dreamy landscape of the backcountry along the rarely visited West Rim trail, while a Swiss hiker frames Zion Canyon, where 3.2 million visitors flocked in 2014. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The elegant, endless, lyrical rapids of the Virgin River in the Narrows are contrasted by tools of development, stored by a trails crew making repairs to the Hidden Canyon route. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The points of cactus and hiking poles serve different but equally useful purposes in an unforgiving landscape. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A streetlamp illuminates the parking lot at Zion Lodge, intruding on the backdrop of a dramatic sunset, while a tree leans precariously from a boulder on the east side of the park. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
New growth rises after a long-past forest fire, while some of those who summit Angel's Landing erect cairns to mark their accomplishment, rising above their daly lives. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The setting sun grazes the mountain tops at the entrance to Zion Canyon. Those same mountains are seen through the windows of a shuttle bus, which has carried into the canyon some of the more than three million visitors who visited in the past year. Congress asked that the parks become more accessible to Americans, but the question is what is lost in the experience, as the scenery sails past bus windows? Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The water that chills this hiker at Big Spring in the Narrows was part of the muscle that carved and eroded cliff faces in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park, where many a rock climber seeks a handhold. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A blind arch serves as a gateway in the Kolob Canyons. After two days of deadly storms, a double rainbow appears over the pool cabanas at the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Springdale, the gateway to Zion. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
The same trees that shelter wildlife provide equally for those seeking a wild time. Since its inception the duty of the National Park Service has been to provide for both. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
Deep in a Clear Creek slot canyon, the sun rarely strikes the floor, but instead dances along the canyon walls creating fleeting, ever-changing shapes. Thousands of hands pulling daily on a steel chain have rubbed a permanent groove into the rock on the steep assent to Angel's Landing. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.
A rarely visited slot canyon along Clear Creak seems pristine compared to the what is left behind in the often-visited Water Canyon. Zion National Park artist-in-residence, Sept. 2015.