This is a continuation of sunset photography at Dead Horse Point SP, Utah.
This concludes the photography series from Utah in March of 2026.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 23
Tag: Sunset Light
Utah – March 2026 – Part 23
This is a continuation of sunset photography at Dead Horse Point, Utah.
There is more to shoot at Dead Horse Point than the grand scenic.
To be continued,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 22
In an earlier post I revealed that I had gotten my posts out of chronological order. Now I’m stepping back a day to the evening prior to the overcast sky shoot at sunset at Dead Horse Point, Utah. The evening prior was much different.
To be continued,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 21
This is a continuation of photography at Dead Horse Point, Utah on an overcast evening in March, 2026.
Ah, at last a little muted sunset light on those distant cliffs.
This final image shows that we were not alone at this popular view point.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 20
After driving Potash Road and the Shafer Trail, we returned to Dead Horse Point for sunset photography. It was a heavily overcast evening, so prospects for a golden sunset hour did not look promising.
This tree creature seems to be relishing the sunshine on its shoulder.
Twisting through the desert dust, a strong anchor holding its life form firmly to the earth.
A portion of a nearby coppery cliff edge glows in late day sunlight, thick desert clouds envelope the landscape below in deep shadow.
Desert plants sink their roots into the thin soil and hard rock, where scant moisture hides from the harsh sun. The V shape of the niche in the rock is reminiscent of similar shapes seen in Georgia O’Keefe’s artwork.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 16
I’ve fallen behind in my normal blog post schedule, being preoccupied with other summer time activities. I’ll try to get back to a more regular schedule.
I used this geological feature as a foreground for star photography. As usual, I’m slow at processing those night images, so the star photos will have to be in a later post.
Most of the golden hour light was gone by the time I made ‘Early Morning Light’, but I really like the light and shadows on the undulating foreground.
After shooting sunrise from our campsite, we explored more of the local area, driving a number of side roads into the desert.
These rock shapes remind me of crowns that might be worn by kings and queens.
‘Sand, Plants, and Hills’ is a paraphrase from the Eagles’ song ‘A Horse with No Name’.
As evening approached, we set up for more night sky photography.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 15
There is an arch on a bluff just off of Buckhorn Draw Road, which we stopped to check out on our way back from Little Grand Canyon.
As we drove back along the route we had taken to get to Utah’s Little Grand Canyon, we stopped to check out a side road near a large campground, where we were considering staying; but as we explored the side road, we discovered more interesting scenery and plenty of open campsites at which to enjoy the scenery.
Look closely and my Sportsmobile can be spotted near the center of this image. If just glancing at the image, the Sportsmobile might be mistaken for a natural feature.
This zoomed in image shows the campsite location a bit better.
This pano, made from our campsite, is of geological features across the roadway.
We will shoot star photographs at this location. These images were taken not only to show the local scenery, but to select compositions for night sky foregrounds.
More local images and exploration images to follow,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 13
This is the second part of Golden Hour Sunset photography at Utah’s Little Grand Canyon.
I used this old tree skeleton as a foreground in a number of compositions as the sun set and light moved up the tree leaving the base in shadow.
Only the rocks on the distant horizon have golden hour light in ‘Golden Hour 16’, but the sky is gaining color.
When shooting at golden hour, it is rewarding to look around and towards the western sky, as the setting sun often creates wonderful colors in clouds, which might go unnoticed if one focuses too much on the eastern sky.
After sunset, we set our cameras up to shoot the night sky. As usual, I’m slow in processing those many, many images. So I’ll have to postpone the night sky blog and move onto sunrise images in the next post.
Thanks for following,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 12
The previous post contained a few of my pre-golden hour images at Utah’s “Little Grand Canyon”. This post has a few of the golden hour images.
That bush skeleton was mostly in shadow before golden hour, so only a tiny portion of it is illuminated and the same is true for the tree skeleton in the image below.
Sometimes it appears the best of golden hour is over, then it comes again, as clouds move on the horizon or the sun dips below clouds.
Stay tuned for part 2 of Golden Hour at Utah’s Little Grand Canyon,
Ken
Utah – March 2026 – Part 1 – Plan C
It is spring (or almost) and time for another spring trip with my oldest son. Traveling in the U.S. for outdoor activities in the spring, one always has to consider the weather at potential destinations.
The initial plan this year was to fly into Portland, Oregon, drive to Cannon Beach for photography along the Oregon coastline, knowing that the typical rainy weather along the coast might result in last minute changes, and it did. The forecast for the time interval available for this trip was for cool, rainy, overcast weather every day, which can offer some opportunities for photography, but might not be so pleasant every day. So cancel plan A. Move to Plan B.
Plan B was to go to the same area as last year, where there were still some possibilities to see and photograph in some locales not visited during previous trips. Then a few days before executing Plan B, Plan C came up. Plan C was to explore an area of Utah seen superficially and partially, when passing through on the way to other destinations. Plan C was executed.
I drove two long days to reach the first destination, a first come first serve, free camping area on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) public land not far off of I70 west of Green River, Utah. This area is said to be popular with off roaders and I wanted to be sure to get here to find a campsite before the weekend crowd arrived. As it turned out, while there were a few scattered campers, including those hauling their offroad vehicles, there was no large crowd and I easily found a suitable campsite, somewhat secluded from others.
I shot the sunset panorama standing on the roof rack of my vehicle. If one looks closely, the tops of a few other campers can be seen in this image.
My son met me here to begin our exploration, making this our initial home base. Before he arrived, I had some time to walk around this area, shooting desert scenes with my iPhone. So stay tuned for part 2 to see some of those images.
Thanks for following,
Ken