Photo Tour & Workshop Locations

The Colorado Plateau is a photographer’s paradise – especially Colorado and Utah.

Colorado Photo Tour & Workshop Locations

The Rocky Mountain National Park is a grand showcase of scenic mountain vistas in a variety of eco-zones that range from 8,000 feet to the top of Long’s Peak at 14,259 feet.  Painter Albert Bierstadt began creating paintings that must have looked surreal to the people in the East in the second half of the 1800’s.  Photographers soon followed and have long since made the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains one of their favorite subjects.

Great photo subjects include Trail Ridge Road, Hallet Peak, Nymph Lake, the alpine tundra,  elk, especially during rutting season, Beaver Meadow and a host of lesser-known spots.  The trick, of course is know when to be there… sunrise or sunset or mid-day?… what season, what time of day?… the best way to shoot the scene.  That’s what we’re here for.  We’ll get you to the right places at the right time with the right shooting advice to get you home with the images of a lifetime. 

The majestic Rocky Mountains offer the best in alpine environment photography that includes mining ruins, ghost towns and just spectacular mountain scenery.  Rocky Mountain National Park encompasses the nation's highest continuous road at over 12,000' ASL and the 72 peaks in the park provide endless photo opportunities.  Trail Ridge Road typically opens on or before Memorial Day and spectacular Fall River Road opens by July 4th.  Rocky Mountain National park has it all, from vast landscapes, wildflowers, falls and wildlife.  Moose can sometimes be photographed on the west side of the Continental Divide.  One workshop participant recently had the good fortune of photographing the park's only known wolverine.  Opportunities to photograph elk, marmots, pika, etc are readily available if you know where to be and when to be there. 

The road system of Rocky Mountain National Park offers photographers access to diverse ecosystems characterizing the higher regions of the central Rocky Mountains. The roads take visitors through lowland meadows and aspen groves, along swift-flowing rivers and up through subalpine forests to more than 12,000 feet in elevation.

No other national park roads offer the dramatic experience of a long drive across alpine tundra region, and few offer such a wide variety of experiences.  The careful relationship of the park roads to the landscape results in a road system that generally harmonizes with the environment. Roadway alignments were chosen to highlight natural features, and scenic vistas and overlooks were provided to allow visitors to take in the magnificent terrain. The stone parapet walls and road-related structures, constructed in the National Park Service’s distinctive rustic style of architecture, relate well to their natural surroundings and help evoke a distinctive experience.

Colorado’s National Forests and Rocky Mountain National Park offer grand vistas with a variety of life zones and snow-capped mountain ranges towering above 14,000 feet above sea level.

Utah Photo Tour & Workshop Locations

The desert of southeast Utah offers the stunning and sometimes surreal art, ruins, and settings of the Anasazi and Fremont Indians, such as the remote area of Grand Gulch, as well as the vistas of Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, Cedar Mesa, Valley of the Gods, and Monument Valley.  Canyonlands and Arches provide countless photo opportunities, many of which can be had with walks of just a few minutes.

As a single destination Moab vies with Rocky Mountain National Park as one of the top destinations for photographers.  Photographers can work in the desert settings of Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, the Colorado River basin, the vast areas of the Bureau of Land Management or the forested LaSal Mountains.

Canyonlands National Park: A host of major iconic sites beckon photographers in Canyonlands:  Mesa Arch, False Kiva, Aztec Butte, Grand View Point and the Green River Overlooks are long time favorites, but nearly every trail, cliff wall and wash contain petroglyphs, pictographs, ruins and stunning views.

Dead Horse State Park:  Towering 2,000 feet directly above the Colorado River, the Dead Horse Point Mesa offers the photographer breathtaking views of the Colorado River, southeast Utah's canyon country and the redrock formations of Canyonlands National Park.

Arches National Park: The quintessential iconic photo site in Arches is Delicate Arch.  This one is a 3 mile round trip and can be the perfect ending to a great day of photography.  On my trips we’ll leave the trailhead 2 to 2 ½ hours before sunset to take in the Wolf Ranch petroglyph panel on the way.  My favorite is a pair of formations called North-South Window and The Turret.  You can shoot these as individual sites or shoot The Turret through the North Window, shooting from the east.  As with most of the sites in the area timing is everything.  Shooting in the right season and at the right time of day is critical.  Other worthwhile sites include Double Arch, Balanced Rock. Courthouse Towers, the Three Gossips and Klondike Bluffs.

BLM Sites: The vast expanses of BLM land around Moab provide what I think are some of the best opportunities for great non-iconic shots.  Bartlett Wash, Fisher Towers and Poison Spider Mesa are a few of the “named” sites, but nearly every cliff wall and wash present photo opportunities.

Indian Peaks Wilderness Area:  These sessions are for the more intrapid hikers.  Beautiful Diamond Lake and Fourth of July (old mining site) are within an hour's walk.  Diamond Lake sits at treeline and is a great sunrise shot.  Fourth of July mining camp provide great night light-painting opportunities.

Southwest Colorado Fall Colors Tours:  Southwest Colorado has provided countless magazine cover shots for fall colors.  Unlike the Colorado front range where autumn is primarily aspen golds, southwest Colorado has a variety of trees and colors.  It also has more panoramic viewpoints.  We try to combine our annual fall color workshop with the full moon for some great photo opportunities.

Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forests

connect the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area with Rocky Mountain National Park.  Several Boulder County parks and open space are in this area as well as ghost towns, mining towns and panoramic view.