Rally in the Valley (Part 2)
Here are another eight images of the classic car rally in Monument Valley. If you missed it, you might want to check out Part 1. Please click the images to view larger versions. It was a pretty exciting afternoon in Monument Valley. I hope you enjoyed seeing these vintage cars as much as I enjoyed [...]
Rally in the Valley (Part 1)
We were staying at an RV park in Mexican Hat, Utah, which is right on the border with Arizon, to see Monument Valley. It was early afternoon, not a time I would usually be out photographing, so I was doing some writing in the RV while Ray went out to get fuel for the truck. [...]
Monument Valley Tribal Park, Utah
You’ve seen it before. Our last stop in Utah is one of the most famous landscapes in the United States. If you’re a John Wayne fan, you saw it in the 1939 film “Stagecoach”. If that was a little before your time, perhaps you saw it in “Easy Rider”, “2001: A Space Odyssey” or “Thelma [...]
While in Utah, don’t miss the State Parks
With five National Parks in close proximity in Utah, it might be easy to pass by the equally beautiful state parks, which are perhaps even more unique than the National Parks. After we visited Zion and Bryce National Parks, we stopped at Kodachrome Basin State Park named after the vibrant colors of the now discontinued [...]
Does the world really need another image of Mesa Arch?
I almost didn’t go. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of arches (and so have you by now!). Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, has to the be the most overly photographed place in the USA. Of course, there is a reason for that, it looks amazing at sunrise when the bottom of the [...]
Goblin Valley State Park, Utah
One of my favourite spots in Utah is Goblin Valley State Park where the hoodoos look like playful goblins. Located in the middle of the San Rafael Desert, about two and a half hours drive west of Moab, the valley was formed by the same forces of nature that caused the variety of rock formations [...]
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch is the most photographed of the 2,000 arches in Arches National Park, Utah. It seems to be a right of passage to hike the 1.5 mile trail that gains 500 feet in elevation to watch the sun’s last rays on the arch at the end of the day. Ya, I didn’t do that [...]
Turret Arch
Today’s photograph is a high dynamic range image of Turret Arch at Arches National Park in Utah. I made this image by combining three exposures in Photomatix. Please click the image to view a larger version. In post processing I used the “color stylizer” filter in Nik Color Efex Pro to desaturate the colours and [...]
OMG a Double Arch! What does it meeeeean???
I still cannot get that half crazed double rainbow guy out of my head. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about just search on YouTube, you’ll find it.) It was all I could do to restrain myself from yelling out “Oh my god, oh my god, it’s a double arch, what does it meeeeean???” [...]
Balanced Rock at Arches National Park
I’m back to the icons again. I can’t help myself. I know it’s been done but icons are icons for a reason. When you visit Arches National Park in Utah you just can’t go home without an image of balanced rock. The first time I passed balanced rock along the scenic drive it was fairly [...]
Sunset at Arches National Park, Utah
One place I couldn’t miss on my North American adventure was Arches National Park in Utah where there are more than 2,000 natural arches – the greatest concentration in the USA. The arches are made of soft red sandstone. They started out as large rocks which cracked and became slabs known as “fins.” Sections of [...]
Waterpocket Fold
The 100 mile long wrinkle in the earth’s crust is called Waterpocket Fold. Early explorers called it an impassable reef which led to it’s current name: Capitol Reef National Park. It was created 65 million years ago by the same forces that uplifted the Colorado Plateau. It is a vast collection of cliffs, domes, spires, [...]
Twin Rocks at Capitol Reef
I was treated to a lovely sunset at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. I really liked how the direct light shone onto the red twin rocks and made them glow. Please click the images to view larger versions. It’s hard to tell from this angle why they are called twin rocks. One of the [...]
The Castle at Capitol Reef
Of all the national parks in Utah, Capitol Reef National Park is the one that seems to get overlooked by many tourists, yet it was one of my favourites. Perhaps that’s exactly what I liked about it: fewer people. Please click the image to view a larger version. It is just as rugged and magnificent [...]
Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah
You would think it would be hard to compete with five national parks in Utah but there are some state parks there that are equally magnificent. Please click on the images to view larger versions. Between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks lies Kodachrome Basin State Park where we camped for a couple of [...]
Supermoon at Bryce Canyon
I was so delighted to discover that I would be at Bryce Canyon National Park during the rise of the supermoon. On a trip like this I was bound to be somewhere great but Bryce Canyon with its hoodoos was ideal. This was my second attempt at photographing a supermoon. When it happened last year [...]
Hoodoo Chaos
When I visited Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah I had to find a way to make sense of the hoodoo chaos. It is quite amazing to behold such a vast landscape with so much detail. I asked myself what the main attractions were in the grand scene. I like to give myself some time [...]
Sunset Point, Bryce Canyon National Park
My second National Park visit in Utah was Bryce Canyon where dense hoodoos, or tall rock formations, are jammed into the horseshoe shaped canyon. Called Bryce Amphitheater, I couldn’t help but think of a rock concert gone wrong. What was going on here that caused everyone to turn to stone? Please click the images to [...]
Checkerboard Mesa, Zion National Park
One of my favourite sections of Zion National Park was the first part I saw: Checkerboard Mesa. It has layers upon layers of slickrock as seen in the foreground of this image I made of a lone pine tree growing mysteriously out of the rock. The Mesa is the great mountain in the background with [...]
The Virgin River, Zion National Park
There are two things that make Zion National Park as unique as it is: the great red sandstone cliffs and the Virgin River. Please click the images to view larger versions. I made a few images using a low angle perspective that would allow me to capture both the river and the red walls, and [...]
Lizard in Zion National Park
Do you ever dream of basking in the sun with towering sandstone cliffs on one side of you and a rushing river on the other? If you do, you might find this lizard is your neighbour: Please click the image to view a larger version. I’m not sure what kind of lizard he is. But [...]
Iconic Zion
I can’t help myself. When I go to a place like Zion National Park in Utah I just have to make that iconic image even though it has been photographed a gazillion times before. We, the tripod nerds (as my husband likes to call us), were lined up shoulder to shoulder on the bridge above [...]
When Will I Stop Making Rookie Mistakes?
It was my first day in Zion National Park in Utah. I was overwhelmed with the majesty and scale of the great cliffs and tried not to let my jaw drop too far while extending my neck back to see the top. For our first exploration Ray and I decided that we would take the [...]
Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Utah
If you are going to Zion National Park, a great place to stop along the way is Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah where you can explore acres of colourful dunes. The dunes are surrounded by red sandstone cliffs making for some colourful photography if you also get blue skies. When I first [...]
