Southwest Winter

I had been planning a trip to the area around Moab, Utah with my friend Alejandro Velarde for a while. I had been there several years ago on a very short visit and was looking forward to spending more time exploring this beautiful area. Our main goals were to get a good shot of Mesa Arch (above) and to get some images of Monument Valley in winter conditions. Our friend, Marcell Puzsar was able to join as well and we made the trip in early February, with 5 days and 4 nights to photograph. For those looking for a good time to visit these often crowded locations, this was a good one. Temperatures hovered around freezing and even popular locations like Delicate Arch and Mesa Arch only had a few other people around at sunrise and sunset.

We flew into Salt Lake City and made the 3+ hour drive to Moab, watching the landscape change from snowy mountains to desert buttes as we went. Conditions were beautiful as we arrived with nice clouds and spots of snow on north-facing hillsides. After dropping off our luggage at the hotel we decided to head into Arches National Park and hike up to Delicate Arch for sunset. The hike requires some effort (3.5 miles round trip with a steep uphill climb on slickrock to get there) but the reward is tremendous. Delicate Arch is more impressive in person than in photos and it is always fun to see people’s reactions as they round the corner and it comes into view. Unfortunately on this evening, the clouds had thickened while we were hiking and the sunset completely fizzled out. Thankfully this is why we scheduled 5 days for this trip and we’d be back.

Mesa Arch Sunrise

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park is one of the most popular sunrise locations in the area, often drawing huge crowds of photographers standing shoulder-to-shoulder to catch the red glow of sunrise lighting up the underside of the arch. Since this was one of our main goals for this trip, we left our hotel well before sunrise to help ensure we would be the first ones there, allowing us to pick our spots to set up. We arrived at the trailhead about 90 minutes before sunrise in 20°F temperatures, with another car arriving right after us. As it turned out, the crowds never materialized and we were free to move around all morning.

A short hike brings you to the edge of the cliff with Mesa Arch framing the scene. We experimented with some compositions by moonlight to stay warm and wait for sunrise. The classic image of Mesa Arch at sunrise includes catching the sun just as it breaks over the distant mountains with a small aperture, creating a star effect. The photo at the very top of this post is an example. One of my goals on this trip was to get a nice, tight view emphasizing the glow on the arch and the interesting rock formations and mountains that it frames. The tight view also helped me to avoid the “old” snow below the arch that had gotten messy from people walking on it over the last several days.

While waiting for sunrise, I picked out a few other compositions that I liked, including this one. The lack of crowds made it easy to move around and with the sun a little higher in the sky the light got more golden than red. Once we were done at Mesa Arch we explored Dead Horse Point State Park (more on that later) and got some rest before heading out for the afternoon.

Arches National Park

It looked like a thick layer of clouds was forming to the west again, so we decided not to hike back up to Delicate Arch for sunset. Instead we took some time to just explore Arches National Park. The landscape there is surreal, with impossible looking red rock formations, natural arches, and mountains. I tried several compositions to show off the La Sal Mountains in the distance, and this one taken near the “Fiery Furnace” section of the park was my favorite. The desert foliage with the red rocks on either side frame the snow covered mountains with some nice clouds in the sky.

We ended up at Turret Arch for sunset, but the light wasn’t great and this evening served better for scouting than for photography. We decided to return for sunrise the next morning, which was beautiful with rays of pink clouds in the sky. The spots of snow on the ground added some nice texture to the scene.

Monument Valley

Monument Valley is an iconic Southwest landscape, made famous by dozens of films from “Stagecoach” starring John Wayne in 1939 through “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” in 2018. It is a 2-1/2 hour drive south of Moab, just crossing into Arizona. The valley itself is part of the Navajo Nation and a Navajo guide is required to photograph within the park during either sunrise or sunset.

You get your first view of Monument Valley as you drive south, reaching a lookout commonly known as “Forest Gump Point” – named after the location in the movie where the title character stopped his cross country run. It is a popular spot for people to stop and take pictures in the road re-creating the scene, so of course I did the same. I had booked a room at “The View” hotel for the night, just inside the park, where every room has a clear view of the classic Monument Valley scene consisting of the Mittens and Merrick Butte. The photo at the top of this section was taken by moonlight before sunrise from our balcony.

After checking in and dropping off our luggage, we met our guide for that evening and the next morning. Ray Begay (raybegay49@gmail.com) is an experienced and highly regarded guide for photographers in Monument Valley and he did a great job showing us around and recommending locations based on what we wanted to photograph.

We started out in the “North Window” area of the park, eventually spending some time a little south of there where some snow and foliage provided some good foreground options. I decided to frame the view through this bent tree. Moving a little further to the west I as able to frame more buttes within the opening in the cliffs with some snow and plants in the foreground.

We moved on to Artist’s Point, which we decided had some nice options for sunset.

Our next stop was the “Totem Pole” and the nearby formations known as Yei Bei Chei. We spent some time exploring compositions with rippled sand dunes in the foreground and the thin spires in the background. The low, winter sun added some warm light.

Before heading to our sunset spot, we stopped by John Ford’s point – named after the director that had filmed several western movies in the valley. The ledge in this view is a popular spot for photos and you can often hire a horse to pose there for your shot. I composed to put some yucca plants in the foreground.

We selected a location for sunset that gave us a nice view of the buttes for which the valley is famous, some interesting foreground options, and a view to the northwest in hopes that the clouds there would catch some light. The area along the road to Artist’s Point fit this perfectly and we used it for both sunset and sunrise. Once again, I used some yucca plants for the foreground. My favorite shots from sunset (first) and then sunrise (second) are included below so you can see the difference in the light. Sunset lacked direct light on the buttes but did get some color on the clouds.

While exploring prior to sunrise, I captured this image of the moon setting between some buttes, with the three sisters formation on the left.

After sunrise I turned around to see some dramatic light on the buttes and clouds behind me.

Our guide then took us on a tour of some arches and other features on the back side of the valley before we wrapped up the morning shoot.

Delicate Arch

Arriving back in Moab, we decided to head back up to Delicate Arch for another attempt at sunset. This time we left early. Just in case the clouds came back in near sunset, we wanted a chance to at least get some afternoon photos before that happened. As it turned out, there was nothing to worry about. For anyone considering hiking to Delicate Arch in the winter, you should be aware that the last stretch of the trail is fairly narrow, covered in ice, and has a drop off on one side. I’d recommend bringing some traction devices for your shoes so you don’t have to worry about slipping. This is especially true if you intend to walk back in the dark.

Unlike my other trips to Delicate Arch, there was virtually nobody else there. I’m used to seeing a constant stream of people lining up to take their picture under the arch, making it difficult to get a clean landscape photo. On this Monday evening in February there were never more than about 10 people around. When we arrived the sun was casting a golden afternoon light on the scene and the clouds were swirling around the La Sal Mountains. As we got closer to sunset, the clouds obscured more of the mountains and the light got more red. The image above was taken just before the light faded on the arch. The photos below show how the scene changed during the afternoon.

The next morning we shot sunrise at Dead Horse Point State Park. The skies were clear, making the sunrise itself unimpressive, but the view is always beautiful and the rocks lit up red as the morning sun reached them.