Dead Horse Point

On a recent trip to Utah, I visited Dead Horse Point State Park. It's a popular spot to view the Colorado River. Here are my favorite shots from the two visits made over two days, in varied lighting, with various experiments in editing with Lightroom.

Dead Horse Point

I was with my family, and it was near the summer solstice, and by the time we got there, the sun had risen quite a lot. Above is the best from the first visit. It shows the Colorado River, with Canyonlands National Park's Needles District in the distance. I had some clouds, but otherwise the light was harsher than I wanted. I went back the next day at dawn, getting the following shots.

Dead Horse Point in Morning Twilight

I found a spot on a rock near the edge of the cliff and waited for the sun to come up, occasionally seeing a family of coyotes hunting. I had my camera on a tripod and never got it around in time to photograph them. One pup eventually wandered by with a dead rabbit in its mouth. Finally the sun's rays started striking the canyon rim, as shown below.

Dead Horse Point: First Rays of Sunlight

I sat around shooting, bracketing to be sure I didn't mess up my only opportunity to get this right. Eventually the sunlight reached the plateau below.

Dead Horse Point at Sunrise

I think I like the shot above the best, with the shadows, golden light on the canyon walls, and reflections in the water. I wish the clouds had cooperated (a few cumulus clouds would have made the scene perfect), but I'll take what I got. I hung around a little longer and it started getting hot. I took the camera off the tripod, took a few shots of the surrounding landscape, and called it a morning.

For any trip to the Moab area, this park is a beautiful, relatively quiet (less crowded) place to see the Utah desert landscape.