That evening on the North Rim, as the sun slid toward the horizon, Randy paused to take it all in. He stood quietly at the rim, looking out over the vast expanse of the canyon, absorbed in the play of light and shadow across the cliffs. I lifted my camera for a quick, unplanned frame—the silhouette of his figure against the immensity of the landscape felt like the essence of the moment.

This wasn’t a staged photograph, but a reminder of why we come to places like this: to stand in awe, to feel small against something so immense, and to carry that memory forward. With the fires now having claimed so many of the cabins and the historic lodge, this image holds a tenderness for me—Randy’s stillness framed against a place that is both enduring and vulnerable..