Arches and Canyonlands National Parks Photography Workshop

Workshop location; Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park is a long arch that sits out over a cliff face and rises just a little bit higher than the top of the cliff, and fills the frame of this panorama. This view is from near the cliff's edge at sunrise facing east. The bottom of the frame shows the reddish sandstone rock at the cliff's edge. Through the arch one sees layers of back lit mesas and buttes disappearing into the brightness of sunrise. The underside of the arch, strongly attracts the eye by glowing bright orange with reflected light from the cliff face under it.

OCTOBER 6th - 9th, 2025

Space Available

$1690 USD

Instructor: Andy Cook

DESCRIPTION

When morning light lands on the sculpted red rocks of Arches National Park they glow with unexpected intensity and color. The layered views from Canyonlands National Park spark the imagination, hinting something more, just a bit further.
Join us as we photograph the stunningly beautiful Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dead Horse Point State Park.

FOCUS: Photographing this amazing landscape at sunrise and sunset.

Workshop location; This image shows the view from Green River Overlook in Canyonlands National Park, UT. In the sky, broken clouds allow warm, light beams to shin down on the scene from the late day sun. The scene below shows a reddish rocky plain where eons of erosion have allowed the Green River to carve twisting canyons. The rim of the canyons have eroded down a little lower than the surrounding plain causing a white rock to be exposed and outline the rim of the canyons. Fading into the distance one sees layers of ridges and mesas. — Green River Overlook

Photography location; In this vertical image Delicate Arch in Arches National Park fills the frame and is softly side lit by orange light from the setting sun. Framed inside the egg shaped opening of this tall arch one see three layers of rocky ridges cresting in the middle and also glowing orange from soft, sunset side light. Only a small amount of orange, clouded sky is between the top ridge and the bottom of the arch. The remaining sky, on the outside of the arch, is filled with horizontally striated clouds that are white high up and light orange near the horizon. — Delicate Arch

ITINERARY

The workshop starts on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025 at 6:00 pm with introductions and a discussion. We begin photographing in the morning on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025.

LODGING LOCATION: Comfort Suites, 400 N Main Street, Moab, UT 84532. 435-259-5455
Check-in Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025; Check-out Friday, Oct. 10, 2025.

Workshop ends after evening photography on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025.

Workshop location; The bottom half of this image is the foreground, which is a sloping hill of orangish sand dotted with bushy, green junipers and gray, leafless bushes. On the far right is a long dead juniper tree skeleton. This hill rises to the middle of the frame where it meets an orangish rock wall containing the two arched gaps of Double Arch in Arches National Park. Blue clouded sky shows in the gaps and the sky above. — Double Arch

DAILY ROUTINE

MORNING: Arrive at photography location in advance of morning light and stay through sunrise. Then go to breakfast.

MIDDAY: Post processing discussions, demonstrations and/or individual instruction. Bring a laptop with Photoshop installed to receive processing aid with your images.

EVENING: We will be at a photography location each evening for several hours. On some evenings we recommend a picnic dinner in the field. On other nights we have dinner in a restaurant after photography.

Photography location; The vertical image is of the view down into Canyonlands National Park from Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah. In the left side of the foreground a small twisted juniper tree shows vibrant green against the reds of the side lit canyons below. In the nearer part of the background, 2,000 feet below, the Colorado River u curves around a large, layered mesa. Viewing up through the image one sees layer after layer of canyons and mesas continuing out to the distance and then just a small amount of blue sky at the top of the image. — Dead Horse Point

REGISTRATION / DEPOSIT $300 USD

TERMS-CONDITIONS CANCELLATION POLICY

DEPOSIT or FULL

BALANCE
Pay Balance

REPEAT BALANCE
Pay Repeat Balance

Workshop location; Sunrise light is causing the reddish rock that makes up the North Window in Arches National Park to glow orange. The entire frame is filled by the arch, rock exits every side of the image. The opening of the arch is centered in the frame and inside one sees Turret Arch and the landscape around and behind it as well as the cloud filled sky above the arch. — North Window

DETAILS

EXPERIENCE: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

GROUP SIZE: Target number of participants is 8.

EFFORT: Moderate - Our hike to Delicate Arch is what places this workshop in the moderate category. To reach Delicate Arch we hike about 1.5 miles, gain about 500 feet in elevation and face some exposure to heights. The arch is at 4,800 feet in elevation so most participants feel the effort is more comparable to gaining 1000 feet. Often walking or standing on uneven, sloped rocks. Sure footing is advised.

CONDITIONS: Mornings may be very cold, winter.

ELEVATION: The elevation range of our shooting locations is 4,100 to 6,000 ft. Proper hydration is a must at higher elevations.

Workshop location; Sepia photo viewing out at the edge of a cliff. In the foreground, on the right are dendritic shaped branches of a long dead, juniper leaning out over the cliff's edge. The branches are very dark compared to the hazy background. In the middle foreground is a small live cedar and on it's left, occupying the left half of the foreground, is a sloping rock that runs out of the frame. The rock is rounded toward the top, but not smooth. The entire rock is heavily striated by differential weathering of it's numerous bedding planes. The view of the background is layer after layer of buttes, ridges and mesas fading into a sliver of very bright sky in top of the frame. — Buttes in Canyonlands NP

TRANSPORTATION

AIR TRAVEL: Likely airport choices are Moab, UT, Grand Junction, CO and Salt Lake City, UT.

Driving time from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT is about 2 hours.
Driving time from Salt Lake City to Moab, UT is about 4 hours.

DRIVING CONDITIONS: Paved roads. A standard rental car should be sufficient. We prefer participants car pool with each other to limit our impact and get to know one another.

MORE WORKSHOP INFORMATION

Workshop location; This entire scene is side lit, with yellow dawn light. Three shallow potholes in the bedrock span the foreground. The closest one is in the bottom center of the frame and has a mound of red mud in the middle encircled by water. The other two potholes are set back a bit, one left one right, and filled with water. The various tower like rock formations that make up the Courthouse Towers span across the upper part of the frame. Above and around them, are puffy striated clouds running horizontally. — Courthouse Towers

EQUIPMENT

RECOMMENDATIONS: MORE WORKSHOP INFORMATION

FOR ARCHES & CANYONLANDS: Lens range from at least 18mm to 300mm after the lens multiplication factor and polarizing filter.

OTHER: Hiking boots and warm clothes.