Utah

That serious outdoor photography has a serious following in America, in a way that it doesn`t quite in Europe, was bought home to me a few years ago one seriously cloudy morning in Arches National Park. I had set my alarm for 3 a.m. in order to get myself to the car park by the Windows Section in time for sunrise. I am used to having the European Alps to myself at such ungodly hours, and so hadn`t anticipated the flood of headlit cars racing in the same direction as I. So out of our respective cars we all poured, almost in unison. All to be equally disappointed by the bank of cloud on the eastern horizon. A few seconds break in that bank enable me to get the two silhouetted images on the top row below. At that stage I didn`t know the back of a 4 x 5 inch camera from its front, and shot only with humble 35mm. Just as well on that occasion as most of the rest presumably failed to get anything at all with their slow large-format set-ups. Have both systems ready to use is the answer, I guess.

South Window Arch at sunrise,
Arches National Park

South Window Arch near sunset,
Arches National Park

Sunrise through an unidentified arch,
Arches National Park

Double Arch, Arches National Park

Garden of Eden,
Arches National Park

Rocks behind South Window arch,
Arches National Park

Wall Arch, Arches National Park

Double Arch, Arches National Park

Turret Arch, Arches National Park

Balanced Rock,
Arches National Park

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park

Phallic symbol in
Arches National Park

Sandstone walls in the Devil`s Garden,
Arches National Park

Salt Valley, Arches National Park

Double Arch,
Arches National Park

The Titan, Fishers Towers

Fishers Towers

Hanging out near
Capital Reef National Park

Taken at the eastern boundary
of Capitol Reef National Park

Sunrise on a Capitol Reef formation,
taken from Highway 24

Capitol Reef backdrop to
autumn trees in Fruita

Classic Capitol Reef scenery,
location not recorded

The Castle,
Capitol Reef National Park

Waterpocket fold,
Capitol Reef National Park

Shooting the film "Galaxy Quest"
in Goblin State Park

Goblin State Park

Shooting the film "Galaxy Quest"
in Goblin State Park

The Needles,
Canyonlands National Park

Helicopter stirring up dust
for a film at Goblin State Park

Potash lakes between Moab
and Canyonlands

A view from an overlook at the northern
end of Canyonlands National Park

The Needles,
Canyonlands National Park

Jug Handle Arch, seen by
Highway 279, Canyonlands

Setting sun on a tree at Needles Outpost
Campground, Canyonlands

A sandstone tower seen from the
Potash Road in Dead Horse State Park

Sandstone formation in Grand Staircase
Escalante National Monument

Seen along Highway 12 of Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Sandstone formation in Grand Staircase
Escalante National Monument

Northern end of Lake Powell
from an international flight

Colorado River and Canyonlands
from Dead Horse Point

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands

The Needles,
Canyonlands National Park

Badlands scenery at the east end
of Capitol Reef National Park

Wilson Arch, near Lasall Junction

Sandstone tower in Monument Valley,
name not recorded

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands

Small pond on Highway 211
to Needles, Canyonlands

The Needles,
Canyonlands National Park

Badlands scenery at the east end
of Capitol Reef National Park