January is already over, and the sun is starting to creep more and more northward in the sky every day. Photographically, January was productive, and I’m excited to share some new images with you in the next couple of weeks. February’s image of the month is an intimate landscape from a wildly popular location on the Utah-Arizona border. During the first week of 2011, we traveled to Page, Arizona to visit the Paria River-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness. Never heard of it? Perhaps not, but I’d be willing to bet you’ve seen images from it. The area’s crown jewel is “The Wave,” which draws huge numbers of tourists every year.
We began our trip by hiking into The Wave, and it holds up to its expectations: its stunning. The Wave and surrounding Coyote Buttes North has some of the most striking geological formations in North America. It should come as no surprise, then, that The Wave is also heavily photographed. Confined to a small area, I think it would be nearly impossible to come up with a novel composition from The Wave itself. While there, I snapped a few images, and enjoyed the surrounding area. It may sound like heresy to some people, but I enjoyed some of the alcoves around The Wave more. In fact, judging by the paucity of footprints, I found some fantastic locations that seem to hardly get visited just a few hundred feet away!
After enjoying this lovely area, we visited some other canyons in the area, and that’s where I found this month’s image. One of the things I’ll blog about soon is the diversity of sandstone in this area–amazing, whimsical formations and colors abound. I really liked the way the sandstone “windows” here contrasted with the ice below. I hope you enjoy it too.
Also, I wanted to mention that yesterday I had the honor of being featured by David Hyde over at the Landscape Photography Blogger. Over there, David primarily showcases the work of his father, Philip Hyde, the pioneering color landscape photographer. Head on over and check out the feature as well as some of David’s other blog posts. I think you’ll quickly learn that if you don’t already read regularly, you’ll want to.
Ice underneath, January 2011
Cool photo Greg. Looks to me like that is some spectacular country. Heresy or not, I’m glad you sought out some of the less visited places.
Love this image Greg – very unique with the ice. Glad you had a good trip to the Wave. You’re right in that there are so many opportunities in the surrounding area for great photography.
Nice, Greg, I like this a lot, and Broken Cathedral and Gargoyle on your main site stand out as well. I have to admit, anything like the standard views of the Wave and Second Wave are really losing power for me. Very nice to see some other stuff from the area. I hiked Buckskin a couple times in my pre-photography days. Someday, I really want to backpack the whole Paria Canyon, seems pretty under-photographed, especially for being right next to such a heavily photographed location.
This is an excellent and refreshingly unusual photograph. My father, pioneer landscape photographer Philip Hyde with Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter was the primary photographer of the groundbreaking Sierra Club Exhibit Format Series that popularized the coffee table photography book. Much of the advice on composition you read around the web on some people’s “12 Sure Fire Tips” came directly from my father’s innovative style and methods in the series. My father never photographed “The Wave.” It wasn’t even called that back then. He does have a well-known image of Buckskin Gulch though. Thanks again for another link to my blog, Greg. I appreciate it. Keep those excellent images and thoughtful blog posts coming.
Fantastic image, I really love the contrast in color. The detail in those windows is just incredible, nature working its magic!
Thanks, guys, for the kind comments!
Jackson, I’m with you on doing the Paria River backpack! I think that seems like such an awesome area, and there has to be some amazing stuff down there. We tried going a few miles down the Paria on this last trip, but ice, deep water, and very cold temperatures we weren’t prepared for prevented us from going far. Alas.