Indian Paintbrushes (Castilleja sp.) grace the flanks of a massive mesa in Zion National Park's East Plateau.
I awoke the day of this shot to overcast sky, not really what you want for great landscape photography. After getting shutout at a few different locations, I happened across this scene. Unfortunately, with the gray skies, it was boring an dull.

As the storm cleared, I could see shafts of sunlight penetrate the clouds and start traveling across the East Plateau from west to east. One by one, they all bypassed this scene and illuminated other features. Finally after waiting in this spot for close to an hour, I saw one of the spots of sunlight traveling my way. It looked promising that it might strike this mesa. Luckily it did, and in the 30 seconds or so that the top of the Mesa was illuminated, I snapped about 4 or 5 pictures. Then it was over.

Sometimes photography is about being in the right place at the right time. This was one of those times.