Fine art photographer Rick Pieros, former Park City resident, is coming home, and he’s bringing along a bit of Southern Utah.

Pieros is scheduled to do an author signing at noon on Saturday, Aug. 12, at Dolly’s Bookstore, 510 Main Street, for his new photography book, “Zion National Park: Past and Present.”

The 112-page coffee-table publication is the latest in the photographer’s “Past and Present” series that started with 2011’s “Park City: Past and Present” and continued with “Jackson Hole 1878-2012 Historical Photographs Past to Present” in 2012.

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“It feels good to have it done, because for a while it felt like unfinished work,” Piers said from his home in San Luis Obispo, California. “Now, I can go to the marketing and selling parts and reconnect with people who live in Southern Utah, along the Wasatch Front and in Park City.”

Pieros, who is also the photographer of the “Gilbert the Moose” children’s book series he does with his wife, author Heidi Shaddix-Peros, and illustrator Corbet Curfman, started the Zion book in 2018.

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“The pandemic pushed things back a bit from a business standpoint, and I wasn’t sure I could move forward with the project financially,” he said. “But once things began to loosen up and people were traveling again, I decided to get going on it.”

The money brought in from the nationwide success of the “Gilbert the Moose” books helped, according to Pieros.

“Once I was able to clear the decks, and get back to it,” he said. “Heidi chained me to the computer for six months and told me that I needed to finish this book. So I did.”

One of the inspirations for the Zion National Park book was the area’s history, according to Pieros.

“It is so rich with colorful characters,” he said.

The book starts with the Southern Paiute, the first people who inhabited the area, and includes fur trappers and mountain men, explorers like John Wesley Powell and the arrival of pioneers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“That’s only half of the story,” Pieros said. “Once the Mormons settled, word got out at just how amazing Zion Canyon was.”

Still, people didn’t believe the tales, because there wasn’t a lot of visual proof, according to Pieros.

“When Powell did his first expedition, he didn’t take any photographers or painters, so when he did his second one, he took something like three photographers and several painters,” he said. “He was keen on promoting parts of the west that he thought should be preserved.”

One of those photographers and painters was Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, whom Pieros says is an interesting historic figure.

“His uncle [topographer Almon Harris Thompson] was on the first Powell expedition, and he was scheduled to go on the second one,” Pieros said. “Frederick was only 17 years old at the time, and he basically left in the middle of the night with his uncle and left his parents a note to say he was joining the expedition.”

One of Dellenbaugh’s paintings of Zion made it into the World’s Fair, but no one believed the scenery was real, according to Pieros.

“Then came the photographs, which, back then, didn’t lie,” he said with a laugh.

One of the things Pieros enjoys about putting his “Past and Present” books together is seeing these historic photographs.

“I feel a kind of kinship with these historic photographers who were in pursuit of beauty,” he said. “So, these books are also ways for me to tell about how instrumental these artists were in wanting to preserve areas like not only Zion [but] other parts of the West like Grand Teton and Yellowstone.”

Pieros had been thinking about doing a book about Zion for a while, because his family splits its time between San Luis Obispo and Springdale, which is right at the mouth of Zion.

“We bought a townhome that is like a vacation spot retirement place a few years ago,” he said. “My daughters grew up going to Zion, and the idea has been tossed around.”

To acquire historic photographs for his books, Pieros contacts historical societies.

“For the Park City book, I used one partner — the Park City Historical Society, and they were fantastic,” he said. “I could find almost all the photos in one place.”

One of Pieros’ favorite places in Zion to photograph is on the Eastern Plateau.

“It’s quieter, and the rock formations are amazing,” he said. “The first thing I do when I get to the park is wake up in the morning, take my bike and ride up to the Narrows. There are some water filling stations fed by some springs, and the area is called the Temple of Sinawava. So we always say we have to get our temple water.”

To track down older photos and history for the Zion book, Pieros also reached out to the Southern Utah University’s Gerald R. Sherratt Library, Utah State Historical Society, Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the National Archives and Records Administration, United States Geological Survey, the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library, Zion National Park and his neighbors in Springdale.

The last entry on that list helped make the book as up-to-date as possible, especially when it came to a photograph of one of Sprindale’s landmarks, the Bumbleberry Inn, Pieros said.

“I have three photos of the inn,” he said. “I have a historic photo, and then one I took in 2020 that I intended to use for the book.”

One night a few weeks after Pieros took the last photo, he got a call from his neighbor Billy Hughes, who serves on the area’s search and rescue team.

“Billy told me that the inn had burned down,” Pieros said. “So, I used one of his photos of the fire.”

Pieros was so happy to use one of Hughes’ photos.

“He’s an aspiring photographer, but also a fantastic canyoneer who can get me into places where I could never go myself,” Pieros said.

Pieros looks forward to his return to Park City, especially Dolly’s Bookstore, which has been so supportive of his work, including his 2015 project, “Park City: A Portrait,” he did with fellow Parkite and photographer Mark Maziarz.

“Dolly’s is like home for us, and it’s always nice to come home,” he said.