Ok, so this particular area in Escalante is actually called “The Devil’s Garden”, but it should really be referred to as the Photographer’s Playground. There are so many of these interesting formations in a pretty close area. Under the right lighting circumstances, you could take hours playing with the different compositions in this area. The only frustrating thing for me is that many people had visited this area since the last time it had snowed and had trampled the snow in many places ruining what would have otherwise been nice compositions.

A Word About Foresight

Whenever I’m photographing, I always pay very close attention to where I am walking and what I am disturbing. This is especially important when you’re photographing in snow, sand, or places where there are pools of water. It’s easy to ruin future compositions by not thinking of where your’re going to shoot from. At times like this, I find it’s best to decide how and where I want to shoot from and then approach from a place where my footprints cannot be seen.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon 16-35
Processing: Photoshop CS5, Photomatix, Topaz Adjust
Image Type: 5 Bracket HDR