Photographing the Wave: A Memory Five Years in the Making

A Star is Born

Photos of the Wave have probably been seen by most of the people on Earth…and it seems that every last single one of them wants to visit it in person.

This all started on Oct. 22, 2009. That was the date Microsoft introduced Windows 7 which featured a photo of the Wave as a screensaver. Before then the Wave had only been seen by a few lonely Arizona cowboys and a handful of photographers.

The insane and fluid-like lines of the colorful sandstone instantly became a worldwide phenomenon and the Wave would soon be publicized in books, TV documentaries, and everything short of skywriting.

The Impossible Dream

The resulting popularity forced the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) to set up a permit system limiting visitation to 20 people a day to keep this fragile sandstone treasure from being loved to death.

So…only 7,300 folks per year could visit the Wave. BUT hundreds of thousands of people were applying for those permits. It quickly became the “Holy Grail of Hikes.” Your odds of winning a Powerball might be longer, but probably not by much.

I was one of those folks trying to get a permit. I applied for a permit every month. Month after month. And month after month, I lost.

A few years back, BLM increased the visitation to 64 per day. I continued to apply. And I continued to receive nice notes back from the nice folks at the BLM saying “Sorry, your recent submission failed to win one of the available slots…)

For over FIVE long years.

Then one day earlier this year, I finally got lucky. I received the email shown to the right:

I was probably happier than Charlie when he got the Golden ticket to visit Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory!

The Golden Ticket

A couple of weeks later, BLM mailed me the brightly colored ticket that allowed me access to the Wave. That access was good for 24 hours starting at 12:01 am on the date of my permit and they told me to display it on my backpack during the hike.

Some folks think rules apply to everyone but themselves, so the BLM sends out rangers to verify that Wave visitors have their permits. If they catch you without one, the penalty is a $1,000-$10,000 fine plus up to a year in jail if you really tick them off.

My (Reasonable) Plan

There were about three months before the actual date of my hike, so there was time to plan. And I did. I read every blog about the hike and looked at every photo I could find on the web. I wanted to take full advantage of my good fortune. After all, I might be too old by the time I won a second ticket!

I am aware that I tend to be a bit of an optimist, but I came up with what seemed like a reasonable plan:

• I would fly to Vegas. Rent a car. Drive the 3 hours to a hotel in Kanab (the closest city). Take a long nap, then drive an hour to the trailhead and start hiking right after midnight.
• It’s a 3.2-mile hike, so I figured I could reach the Wave in time to photograph the Milky Way before 3 am.
• After the sun came up, I’d scout the area and take my daytime shots.
• Then I would find a shady spot and chill out until late afternoon near sunset when the light is ideal for a couple of nearby locations.
• Sunset would be at 7:37 pm on the day of my hike (May 25). I figured I would leave around then and be back to the trailhead by 9:30 pm. I should be comfy in my hotel by 10:30…a nice 24-hour day.

Easy, Peasy! What could go wrong?!

Kanab, Here We Come!

My son, Ryan, and I had talked about the Wave for years so he jumped at the chance to join me. He took a few days off from work and flew into Vegas the day before the hike where we met up, jumped in a rental SUV, and headed off to Kanab,

The Adventure Begins

We managed to get some sleep before our alarms woke us at 11:00 pm. Our gear was already prepped, so we were out the door and on the road quickly. We were on the trail before 1am.

Night Hike

I’ve done quite a bit of night hiking in the Southwest (see this article for tips and safety hints concerning hiking at night). That experience came in handy because most of the trail is unmarked (people without GPS get lost on this hike even during the daytime). I could have never found my way at night without my AllTrails Pro GPS.

The hike was uneventful. We didn’t see another soul but Ryan and I did surprise some long-eared rabbits and funny-looking desert kangaroo rats.

It took us about 2 hours to cover the 3 miles. The hiking was pretty easy except for the last 100 yards which was a steep incline in deep sand.

I held my breath as we entered the Wave. The main area isn’t big…about the size of a tennis court, so I knew if someone else had got there first, it would be challenging to get Milky Way shots with another photographer in the way.

But as we cleared the entrance and made our way inside, I let that big breath out and smiled wide. It was empty.

Milky Waves

The famous ‘Classic View’ of the Wave faces northwest (Position #1 on the map). Unfortunately, the Milky Way appears in the southern sky so this perspective wouldn’t work. The best alternative (#2 on the map below) faces south and is located just before the “junction” at the heart of the Wave.

I had three Lume Cube 2.0s with me which I set up on light stands and started experimenting with different illumination patterns. I’ve learned that the creativity/quality of foreground lighting is the single most dramatic factor in my Milky Way photography, so I took over 30 minutes to get it right (see this article for tips on Milky Way photography).

My first shot was the obvious vertical composition. But the result didn’t look much different from a lot of other night shots taken here. So I switched to a landscape orientation and tried again. That image is shown here on the right.

By now it was nearly 4 am and I was running out of time before the dawn. I really wanted to come up with a shot that was unique, but what?

Occasionally, there is a small, photogenic pool of reflective water at the bottom of the Wave. Unfortunately, it was bone dry…but then I noticed a trail of sandstone ‘gravel’ where that water would have been. It made for an interesting leading line…so I set up my camera a few inches over the gravel to take advantage of it. Getting sharp focus throughout the frame was a chore, but I loved the final result (below).

Blue Hour

By now the eastern sky was turning blue so I looked for compositions that didn’t include the Milky Way. I shifted twenty yards over to the little ‘slot canyon’ near the ‘junction’ of the Wave (Position #3 on my map) and set up my tripod facing east to capture the blue hour.

Then I decided to try a ‘Blue Hour’ effort from the “classic” Wave viewpoint. This spot is just past the Wave ‘junction’ (position #1 on my map). I set up one light right behind me only an inch or two over the ground to emphasize the ridges in the sandstone. I placed two others out of sight on either side of the ‘junction’ to help illuminate the walls.

The result was my favorite image of the day. The foreground lighting really did a great job showing the sandstones’ texture and the reds and yellows were a colorful contrast to the blue sky and stars.

Within a few minutes the sun had gotten bright enough that my Lume Cubes were overpowered. Plus the diffuse sunlight wasn’t able to show the Wave’s colors and texture…resulting in mundane photos. I knew that would hold true until late morning when old Sol would climb high enough to eliminate all shadows. Which meant we had 4 free hours.

Time to Kill

So we had some fun. Ryan gamely agreed to serve as a model for a shot I had pre-envisioned of someone actually ‘surfing’ the Wave. I’m sure it’s been done before, but I couldn’t help myself (see the shot to the right).

Around 7:30, we spotted our first hikers of the day arriving at the Wave. Ryan and I thanked our good fortune to have had one of the most beautiful places on the planet all to ourselves for over five hours.

We let the newcomers enjoy the Wave alone and headed out to do some scouting. My All Trails GPS led us right to the Second Wave and Fatali’s Boneyard that we planned to photograph at the end of the day.

After that, our next goal was to explore a steep ridge behind the Wave (to the South) that has some other photogenic spots (Top Arch, The Alcove, & Melody Arch).

That didn’t happen.

We figured out the ‘trail’ up the steep slope. But near the top, there is a narrow, near-vertical section that you have to navigate. Ryan was able to climb like a billy goat and he popped right up there. I tried it and slipped down. Tried again and then a third time with no better result. I started the fourth effort but by then that little voice in the back of my head was insistently telling me that I was crazy. I knew from my pre-trip research that there was an easier, but longer way up around the other side that we could try later. So I called an audible and we headed back down.

Back to the Wave

By now the Wave was in direct, brilliant sunshine without a cloud in the sky. We photographed every possible angle and perspective we could think of over the next couple of hours. Panos, focus-stacks, HDRs…did ’em all.

It may not be huge but the Wave was truly magnificent.

The next hours passed quickly. I was afraid that after capturing the classic shot, there wouldn’t be much else to photograph. I am happy to report that I was dead wrong. The Wave is a photographer’s fantasy.

One group that showed up included a lady who had packed a beautiful gown in her backpack. She proceeded to conduct a runway fashion show for her husband in the center of the Wave. They graciously allowed me to capture the moment as well. It was an unexpected bonus.

Ryan and I had to take at least one selfie. I set up my timer and captured us expressing our opinion of the Wave.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Two rangers showed up to verify that everyone had their permits and to make sure that folks had enough water. Five hikers have lost their lives on this trail over the past five years. Four of those deaths were heat-related.

The average high temperature at the Wave in May is 78°F (26° C). But we were in the midst of a heat wave. The temperature would top out at 92°F (33°) this day. Fortunately, we had brought more than enough water.

Try, Try, Try Again

Sunset was not for another six hours. So I decided to kill some time by trying that longer (but easier) way to get up to the ridge behind the Wave. It was a long loop to the east but after twenty minutes into the hike, I knew it was a mistake. There was a lot of deep sand and the heat started kicking in. It was going to take a lot more time and energy than I had anticipated so I did the prudent thing and turned around.

We made our way back to the Wave and found some shade in the little slot. After a break and more water, I checked out the area directly south of the Wave (between the Wave and the ridge behind it). Maybe it was the heat, but the longer I spent in the sun the weirder the landscape looked to me…

I had a great walk-about and then headed back to the slot to join Ryan. By now it was about 3 pm. All the other hikers had already headed back, hoping to miss the worst of the heat. We got comfortable in the little shade that was available and reviewed our situation.

Decisions, Decisions

By now we had already had an 18 hour day. And we would have to wait over more 3 hours until there was good light for the locations we hadn’t gotten to yet. My app told me we had already hiked over 8 miles (3 miles to the Wave and 5 miles scouting around). Then there was the 3-mile hike back. Plus the temperature was still climbing.

Ryan isn’t an obsessive (insane) photographer like his old man but he was game for sticking it out as long as I wanted. God, I love that boy.

Then I started to wonder if I was being selfish…which I’m guilty of regularly. I had to admit to myself that I already had the shots I really wanted. The remaining locations were nice but, in all honesty, they were “extras.” They weren’t the reason I had tried to get a permit for 5 years.

And…well, maybe it wouldn’t take me 5 years to get another permit.

I’d be back.

I pulled Ryan up on his feet and we headed home.

Photography should be about more than taking pictures. It should be about memories. Ryan and I will share this one as long as we breathe.

Cheers!
Jeff

Tips and maps for photography at the Wave

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