Moab Photo Tours - Photography Guide Blog

This has been an unusual winter in Moab, with much more snowfall than usual, and colder temperatures as well. It has given us the opportunity to get some spectacular winter shots of snow on the red rocks of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Some sections of the Colorado River were completely frozen over, making for some really beautiful images of the red canyon walls reflecting in the ice. There were also frozen waterfalls to photograph as well as smaller ice patterns along the edges of creeks and in the desert potholes in the slickrock. Temperatures are now warming back up into the high 40’s and 50’s, though we can get some storms even as late as March or April. The snow won’t last long then if it snows, so you’ve got to be ready to go as soon as the storm breaks to get good snow on the rocks then. All this moisture should make for a great spring wildflower bloom.

Moab Photo Tours is sponsoring a 5-day photo workshop down the wild and scenic Colorado River through Cataract Canyon. This canyon contains some of the best rapids on the entire Colorado River, as well as spectacular and beautiful desert canyon scenery. See and photograph ancient Native American rock art and ruins, as well fantastic scenery and desert wildlife.

This is a camping workshop in the wilderness with all the gear and food provided by an experienced river-rafting outfitting company. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy a wilderness rafting experience at a photographer’s pace, while learning new skills and techniques amidst some of the most beautiful scenery in all the world.

The trip can take a maximum of 12 photographers, along with 2 workshop instructors. Workshop dates are 10-14 June 2008. Total cost for the 5-day workshop is $1595 per person. For more detailed information or to make a reservation, email us at info@moabphototours.com.

Images are on the website gallery under Workshops. These images were made on a previous photo workshop trip down Cataract Canyon. Join us for this rare opportunity. Where we’re going, there are no motels, no cell phone coverage, and no email. Any Blackberries discovered will be summarily buried on the beach!

I must admit I’ve been a little lax in keeping the Blog up to date. The fact that I’ve been extremely busy the past few months may have had something to do with it. The late summer ‘monsoon season’ came and went, giving us some awesome thunderstorms and incredible skies. Unfortunately, it also rained or clouded-out a few sessions. But, such is life when you have those spectacular clouds. I developed a simple technique for capturing daytime lightning with some degree of success (10 frames with lightning in 30 attempts — not bad), and we got some fantastic sunset-with-lightning photos for my photographers.

Temperatures have cooled off to the 70’s-80’s now, and we’ve had some snow on the La Sal Mountain tops. With the monsoon rains came a fall wildflower bloom, which is still going on. The Moonflowers (Sacred Datura), Purple Asters, Pallid Evening Primrose, and the Prairie Sunflower have all been blooming well. Some of the Cliffroses are also making a small fall bloom, as are some of the Prince’s Plumes. The bright yellow Rabbit Brush is also blooming along all the roadsides.

I haven’t seen any of the colorful Collared Lizards in the past few weeks, so I think the lower night-time temps are putting them down for the season. Watch for them next April or May. The Pronghorn antelope are going into the rut now, and the bucks are herding their harems of does around now, and we’ve gotten some good shots of them lately. Hopefully the Desert Bighorn Sheep will start moving around more now as well. They have been pretty scarce this summer.

I need to put in a plug for coming to Moab to photograph in the late fall and winter. The low-angle winter light actually makes for the best photographic light around here all year. Also, many of the iconic Moab shots, i.e., Delicate Arch, Turret Arch throught the North Window, and Mesa Arch, photograph much better in the winter half of the year. The sun’s angle in the summer produces some unwanted shadows in some of these shots, and these disappear after the fall equinox. Couple this better light with much smaller crowds after Thanksgiving, half-price motels, and the sun rising after breakfast and setting before dinner, and you have perfect photo conditions in Moab. Our winters are generally sunny and mild, with the average daytime high in December/January of 48 degrees, so it’s possible to shoot here in the winter without freezing parts of your anatomy off. Having said that, the occasional little dumping of snow on the red rocks that we get here sometimes makes for some really beautiful and not-often-photographed scenes. And you often have them all to yourself. I’ve actually been to Delicate Arch at sunset, and Mesa Arch at sunrise, in the winter, with no one else there. Try to pull that one off anytime during the rest of the year. Just something to think about.

Summer is here in full force, and midday temps are hot! Sunrise photography is still cool, and the landscapes are great. We’ve been starting our Sunset Tours a little later to let things cool off before going out, and we’re staying out later and doing some night landscapes with light-painting. Everyone seems to enjoy learning the technique. The very photogenic Collared Lizards and Leopard Lizards are commonly seen now, and we’ve gotten some great shots of some who’ve been pretty cooperative subjects, at least, as cooperative as lizards get.

As we move closer to the ‘monsoon season’ (a relative term in the desert) we’re getting some great afternoon cloud formations that really add a lot to any landscape shot. Learning to do panoramas has also been very popular. The newest version of Photoshop (CS3) has a much-improved panoramic stitcher than previous versions of P-shop. It is well worth the upgrade.

A hike up to the Anasazi granary on Aztec Butte in Canyonlands yielded a particularly beautiful shot. It’s in the Canyonlands Gallery on page 2. It is only possible to get this one around the summer solstice because the arches next to the ruin cast shadows over it most of the year. The bad part is hiking up the steep climb to it on Summer Solstice! It was worth the effort, but it was really an effort. It’s a hike only for those with good knees and sound hearts.

Spring got a small setback here when the nighttime temps dropped to near freezing one night, and daytime temps were only in the 50’s-60’s.  This slowed the cacti down somewhat in their blossoming.  I had found several good Claret Cup cacti which had started to bloom, but have stopped putting out any more blossoms until the temps stay in the 70’s for a few days.  The yellow Prince’s Plumes are starting to blossom all over on the rocky slopes, and the really pretty scorpion weed (pretty flower, not so pretty name) is abundant on south-facing slopes.  The Indian Paintbrush is getting even better than it was last week.  The Utah Serviceberry shrubs are covered with white blossoms, and the Fendlerbushes are in full bloom with large, white cross-shaped flowers.  The bright orange-flowered Globemallow is also starting to bloom. We had a good rainstorm last week which should boost the spring flower bloom even more as it warms back up.  Today’s forecast high is 66, with the temps back in the 70’s starting tomorrow.  Great springtime photo weather.  My new carbon fiber levelling tripod just arrived from Gitzo and it is great!  It makes levelling the camera for panoramics much quicker and easier, and is much lighter than my old workhorse Gitzo 320.  For those of you who like to shoot panoramics, consider investing in either a levelling tripod, or a levelling base for your tripod.  Makes life much easier — a least the panoramic photography part.

April 6, 2007

Welcome to the new Moab Photo Tours Guide Blog.  Springtime has arrived in Moab with daytime temps in the high 70’s and lots of sunshine.  Some recent rains gave the wildflowers a boost and the Canyon Country is starting to blossom all over.  The small Uta and Sceloperus lizards are now active, though I haven’t seen any of the larger, colorful Collared Lizards yet.  The roadsides are lined with purple milkvetch varieties with Pallid Evening Primrose mixed in.  White phlox and yellow wallflowers are also in evidence.  Mountain Mahogany shrubs are in full bloom along the slickrock benches, and Indian Paintbrush is also coming on strong.  I saw my first Prince’s Plume blossom of the season yesterday and also found some Claret Cup cacti with scarlet buds appearing.  These should start to blossom over the next week or two as well.  If you like photographing the desert with wildflowers to add even more color, then now is a good time to come to Moab to photograph.  Temps are perfect, we still have snow on the La Sal Mountains for scenic backdrops, and the wildflowers are starting to put on a good show for us.

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