UTAH ARCHES & CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARKS December 12 - 17, 2010 $1,695      Deposit $300 Airport:  Grand Junction, Colorado

Winter is the perfect time to visit Arches & Canyonlands National Parks. We’ll have incredible scenes all to ourselves, scenes that for most of the year feature a constant parade of other photographers and sight-seers. We’ll be there with very few people to disturb our photographic efforts.

The low angle of the sun during the winter will also give us great light for hours every morning and afternoon, rather than a few minutes. And there’s always the chance that we’ll be treated to new snow on the red rocks, or fog, or even frost!

We’ll spend five days exploring the best of  Arches National Park, the Island In The Sky District of Canyonlands National Park and a few secret locations we like to share with only our participants. On this trip you’ll discover that if you’ve seen one natural arch you have not seen them all. They are all different, and we’ll get to photograph a great many of them.  The Windows, Delicate Arch, Devil’s Garden, Mesa Arch, Grand View Point and Dead Horse Point State Park are just some of the places we’ll have to ourselves on this tour.

This is not a region of subtle beauty where a photographer has to search for the right elements to compose a great image. The scenery here is knock-you-socks-off spectacular, and the problem is there are too many good shots vying for attention all at once. The rock formations in this part of the world defy description, and there is literally no end to the photographic possibilities that exist here. And the colors of the rock at sunrise and sunset can put molten metal to shame. We’ll help you make sense of the bewildering beauty, and show you how to create the strongest images of the scenes around you.

And the show doesn’t end when the sun goes down.  Weather permitting, we’ll try some night shooting.  Have you ever wanted to learn how to take star point or star trail photos? Imagine composing images with fantastic rock formations and stars.

To see images from the last Arches & Canyonlands Tour, click here.