Well welcome back everyone to this, my third and final installment on the beauty to be found in Southern Utah. As with the previous two weeks (week 1, week 2), I’ve chosen to use the photo essay format to help me tell the story. This week we’ll be exploring Canyonlands National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park. This week’s Picture of the Week is also (finally) the last of my unpublished images from My Five Favorite Photos of 2021 – so if you’re feeling like you’ve seen this one before, you have! But, don’t let that keep you from enjoying it again here, in addition to the others below.
As I mentioned in the Five Favorites post, when Holly and I visited Utah there were still multiple wildfires burning in the west, and you could see it in the air. The area already looks other-worldly, and the haze really added to the dystopian feel. The image above and directly below were both captured in Dead Horse Point State Park, which attaches directly to Canyonlands National Park. In fact, you’re technically in a state park, staring into the National Park, so the state park is actually behind you in these two photos and you’re looking at the National Park. I don’t know that I’ve ever visited a park that was arranged like this, but whoever swung that deal for the State of Utah really won out because I maintain the best view in the area is from the state park (don’t tell the hoards of tourists that though – the park gets skipped over in favor of the national park by most visitors). In any case, as you can see, the canyons there are just stunningly beautiful!
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–Dan Thompson
This image and the very first image were taken within 20 minutes of each other. I always love to watch and photograph the evening light as it changes, and these two images illustrate why. The very first image shows solid side lighting from the golden hour, while this image immediately above was taken right at sunset, with only the very last rays of light bouncing off different canyon walls. It was really interesting to watch how these rocks change color as the light overhead changes color and made for interesting, and very different, images.
If you do a google image search of Canyonlands National Park, you’ll see a number of images (all very similar, if not identical actually) of Mesa Arch. It’s by far the most famous spot in the park, and one that photographers flock to because the rising sun lights the bottom of the arch and creates a spectacular orange glow. All those images look the same because there is exactly one place to stand to see it, and therefore photograph it. If you’ve followed along with me on this blog you’ll know I hate scenes like that because there’s nothing new to be done there. Despite that, I did want to see it, so Holly and I stopped in after the sunrise rush had left (here’s a tip, the underside of the rock stays illuminated for quite some time after sunrise – it was still lit up when we visited over an hour later). The image above was actually taken just beyond that arch, with a clear view of the canyon itself. I love the candlestick tower (tall skinny tower left of center) from this angle and decided that was the story I wanted. I decided to shoot this one in infrared to really maximize the contrast and to help deal with the harsh light, post sunrise.
This particular image really shows off the white rock that Canyonlands are known for, and it also really illustrates how bad the smoke was in the air. The fingers of these canyons seem to reach everywhere, and I felt was a very unique look for this canyon.