Award for Thor’s Hammer Sunburst

Good new landscape photography fans!  Another email arrived in my inbox with such delightful news I just had to share it with you.  One of my landscape photos just received its first online award.  This time, we feature a sunburst on the famous Thor’s Hammer hoodoo of Bryce Canyon.  So, let’s dive into the juicy details.

As usual, I received the news via email.  I include the text below.

cramerimaging,

It’s always motivating to see creative photos, and we are grateful you share yours with us.  Your photography helps maintain the passion of the community at full steam 🙏 Applauses!  Your photo “Forge” was selected to receive a new award.

Truth be told, this is not the first award this photo received.  It did well in the Garfield County Fair where it received a blue ribbon and a sweepstakes.  I was waiting for when I received this email.  It was inevitable.  It finally came.

So, when I clicked on the link included, it took me to the award description.  I include the description below.

cramerimaging, we are so grateful that you have been able to share your creativity with us in these challenging times.  Your photos are inspiring others, and this Spring, we want to celebrate your photo with the most traction so far this year.  Congratulations, this photo has been selected to receive the Spring 23 Award.

This description seems shorter than usual.  However, it doesn’t matter.  In the end, the description is simple: they wanted to feature a popular photo from my feed.

What I find interesting is that I took the photo in spring of 2020 just after Bryce Canyon National Park reopened.  Now, it bears an award with the title “Spring ’23.”  I do love the irony.

I found inspiration for this photo from the internet.  Sadly, because of lock-down, I had to wait a few months to make the attempt.  Still, when I finally had the chance, I took it.  I woke up early and made the trek into the park.  I hiked down the trail to where I wanted to stand.  Then I waited for the sun to rise.  I had such a narrow window that I didn’t wait long.  When the sun arose, I set up to make the sunburst happen off the edge of Thor’s Hammer.

So, what do you think of this photo and its new award?  Do you like it?  Do you hate it?  Does it deserve the award it just received?  Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.