“Photographer, Canyon Country” — Photographer at work deep in a Southwest Utah canyon.
Deserts offer few clues about the scale of the landscape. Unlike forest scenes, where trees often provide a frame of reference, plants play a lesser role. Even when there are plants it can be unclear from a distance whether they are large trees or small shrubs. Here the inclusion of the human figure clarifies the scale of the grand Utah red rock landscape.
“Two Towers” — Two backlit sandstone towers, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Stopping to photograph these formations was almost an afterthought. We had been far down a remote road in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument photographing even more obscure locations, and we were headed back towards Escalante. Not being familiar with this area back then, I was surprised when we stopped here along the way, but then this little red rock garden began to attract me.
“A Red Rock Canyon” — A rocky canyon filled with trees twists through the landscape of Capitol Reef National Park.
The photograph comes from a trip some years back that took me to Capitol Reef National Park. Although it was challenging to find the right composition, I wanted to get a photograph of this bend in an anonymous red rock canyon where trees were tucked into the edge of hollowed out rock. The feature is fascinating, but it is more or less unmarked, like so many similar features in this landscape.
“Tree, Sandstone Cliff” — A solitary juniper tree grows at the base of the sandstone cliff.
This photograph comes from a visit to Southern Utah with a couple of photographer friends some years ago. We took a week to make a loop through the southern part of the state that took in Cottonwood Canyon, the Escalante area, and a few days in the Capitol Reef neighborhood. That latter location is where I made this photograph of a juniper tree in front of a massive sandstone cliff face.