Needles / Canyonlands Photo Workshop

Photographing the Backcountry of Canyonlands National Park

Guest Instructor: Tom Till

The Moab Photo Tours 2011 Needles / Canyonlands Back-country Workshop will be 4 days/3 nights, Monday-Thursday, May 2-5, 2011. The Needles is a beautiful but very rugged and relatively inaccessible section of Canyonlands National Park, characterized by many red sandstone spires which give the area it’s name, along with arches and Native American rock art. It is accessible only by serious 4WD or by long hikes. Our Workshop will provide that serious 4WD access. It should also be prime wildflower/cactus blossom time as well at this time of year. World famous landscape photographer, Tom Till, will be our guest instructor along with Moab Photo Tours owner, Jon Fuller, on this workshop. You can see some of Tom’s outstanding photography at www.tomtill.com.

Day 1: The current proposed itinerary has us leaving Moab by 8am on the first day. We’ll head out for the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, which takes about 1.5 hours to initially reach, stopping to photograph Newspaper Rock (a famous petroglyph panel) on the way in. We will spend the rest of the morning exploring Horse Canyon, with its arches, prehistoric ruins, and beautiful varnish-patterned walls. We’ll then photograph our way up the Cottonwood Canyon Road to our first camp on Cathedral Point, overlooking the spectacular Big Pocket for a sunset shoot.

Day 2: For sunrise, we’ll again photograph the Big Pocket from Cathedral Point. Both sunrise and sunset are breath-taking from the Big Pocket Overlook. After breakfast, we'll travel up into Beef Basin and Ruin Park to photograph ancient Native American ruins. After lunch, we'll make our way down the infamous jeep road into Bobby's Hole and into the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park via the back way. We'll camp that night at Horsehoof Campground and shoot sunset from there.

Day 3: After the sunrise shoot and breakfast, we load up and move on toward the Chesler Park area. Before lunch we’ll hike up the narrow Joint Trail into Chesler Park. We'll then travel towards our next camp at the Devil's Kitchen, stopping to photograph Indian rock art pictographs on the way. Sunset and sunrise shoots will be in this extremely photogenic area.

Day 4: After our sunrise shoot and breakfast in the Devil's Kitchen, we'll go over the Silver Stairs and Elephant Hill to exit the park. We’ll be back late afternoon of the fourth day. I’m counting on getting at least 3 sunrises and 3 sunsets, with some night photography thrown in while we’re camping. All in all it should be a great trip. The outfitter will provide three 4WD vehicles with experienced 4WD drivers, (who will also be our cooks), and the sleeping bags and tents, etc. This is primitive camping, with pit toilets (outhouses) available at most of our camp sites, but no showers. The old outfitter’s trick is to bring Wet Wipes with which to take a spit bath every evening. It works great and takes the worry out of being close!

Cost for the Needles Backcountry Workshop is $1695 per person, and includes 4WD transportation from Moab, through the Needles and back to Moab, park entrance fees, camping gear, and all meals from departure until return. It also includes personalized photography instruction. Gratuities for the driver/outfitter guides (which is usually 10-15% and makes up a major part of their income) are not included in the cost of the workshop. The workshop fee also does not cover the cost of transportation to and from Moab nor any lodging or meals before or after the workshop.

Additionally, the Moab Photography Symposium is also being held on April 28-May1 in Moab immediately prior to the Needles Backcountry Workshop, and is a great event to attend to maximize your visit while here. The final cost for this symposium has not yet been published by the organizer, but will probably be in the $100 range for the four days, with extra charges for some individual workshops. The website for the symposium is www.moabphotosym.com. The keynote speaker for the 2011 symposium is photographer and writer John Shaw.

We have room for a total of 11 photographers in the Needles Workshop, with myself and Tom Till as other photo guide to accompany us, in addition to our three driver/outfitter guides. That still gives each person a window seat in the vehicles. For images of last year’s Needles Workshop, go to www.moabphototours.com/ and go to the Workshop Album on the Gallery Page. If you are interested in this workshop, contact me by email at jon@moabphototours.com to reserve a spot. This workshop sells out early every year, so if you are interested, don't hesitate too long.