Weight of the Water

Matt holds on for dear life! His lower half still in the raft; his right hand holding onto a rock adjacent to the canyon wall. Matt is the only link between a guide who has rescued a swimmer and the last boat that is coming down the canyon for them. They just piled out of a gnarly waterfall riddled with boulders and a cornucopia of potentially hazardous places. And now Matt stands (more like stretches) as the only way for them to get back to safety. Sure they could continue to float down the canyon and into the calm waters below, but Matt's training is telling him that it's always safer in the boat than out of it. So he holds on with all his might. And as the rescued youth is scrambling to get around Matt and into the raft Matt lets out a grunt of pain, of pure agony, every muscle in his body straining to make this kid safe.

And so what does a photographer do? She risks her life, nearly falling off the top of the canyon wall herself, in order to take a picture at the most opportune moment to commemorate the day Matt put it all on the line. The moment he went from being a guide, to being a hero.