I’m at Bryce Canyon, Utah, on a workshop with my friend and mentor, Bob Evans. The workshop goes until Sunday, and we’re about to leave for our morning shoot on Day 2. For me, this is mostly an exercise in refreshing my eye, which has been a little muddled lately from shooting the same things, and also from working full time at my social media consulting practice, which hasn’t left me much time for photography.

Day 1 began in the dark in 32-degree (F) weather at a sunrise shoot at Amphitheater. It was truly one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen, and was a good education in the complexities of light as it moves through such exquisite colors and textures. It was as if the rocks had an inner glow as the sun illuminating them.

Our afternoon shoot was at Kodachrome Basin, where I shot this sunset panorama.

Every so often, I’m inspired to do a sunrise photowalk. My cat woke me at around 5:00 a.m. and I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided this morning was as good as any to get up and go.

I’m the type who likes to get all set up and ready to catch the first hint of sunrise glow, but I live in South Maui, and rising to the east between the sunrise and me, is Maui’s 10,000-foot volcano, Haleakala.

This makes shooting a sunrise from my side of the island a little tricky, because I have to work fast. By the time the sun appears over the top of the mountain, it’s already pretty high in the sky, and thus fairly bright. I only have a few minutes to catch the first morning glows, and within an hour or so, the light starts to become harsh.This morning was extraordinarily clear (meaning they weren’t burning cane), and the glows were lovely. Some days, it’s worth having a cat be your alarm clock.