The Ultimate Guide To Photographing Utah's Landscapes

Utah is one of the richest landscapes in the American Southwest for a working photographer, and most guides to it are written by people who have never stood behind a tripod there at 4 a.m. in a lightning storm or dug their own car out of the mud on a salt flat. This one isn't. Every location below, every coordinate, and every piece of practical advice comes from my own trips photographing these places — the same trips that produced the fine art prints linked throughout. The five locations here (Bonneville Salt Flats, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Arches, and Toroweap Overlook) are only a small slice of what Utah and the surrounding Colorado Plateau have to offer; think of this as a working field guide to five spots I know intimately, not a complete map of the state.

Jump To A Location

• Bonneville Salt Flats
• Canyonlands
• Monument Valley
• Delicate Arch
• Toroweap Overlook

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Click a marker for details.

1. Bonneville Salt Flats

The Bonneville Salt Flats, just off I-80 near the Utah–Nevada line, are one of the strangest and most rewarding landscapes I've photographed anywhere — a perfectly flat, cracked white plain that turns into a mirror after rain. I shot Infinity here at sunset, and Vita and Aztec Dreaming at sunrise, all from the same spot:

Savonarolas Heaven was shot at sunrise a couple of kilometers further along the flats:

All of these points are within easy walking distance of the road if you're driving — but please, do not drive off the paved surface. I did, once, and got stuck immediately. I'm grateful to this day to the group of strangers who stopped, dug my car out with their own shovels, and even gave me one of those shovels afterward as a souvenir. The nearby town of West Wendover, Nevada, has plenty of hotels, restaurants and gas stations, so there's no special preparation needed for this location beyond that — except tall waterproof boots, useful for wading a few steps into the thin sheet of standing water just off the road to set up a tripod.

2. Canyonlands National Park

I photographed Skyfall at Mesa Arch (read the full story of that shoot in my Mesa Arch field report):

And Great Snake Trail, shot at sunset just as a storm was rolling in, from a spot that's essentially the parking lot itself:

Mesa Arch alone has produced several more prints from different mornings and different light — Babylon, Flash And Light, and The Morning And The Frost — which is part of why I keep coming back to the same arch trip after trip.

The nearest town, Moab, is about 80 km away, so leave early for a sunrise shoot — the road in is good but winding and speed-limited through the mountains. If you're here in August, expect frequent, intense lightning; I've had five or six strikes hit uncomfortably close to the car at once, and it is genuinely unnerving. Winter brings deep snow and you'll be walking through drifts to reach the arch. Sunset light doesn't work well at Mesa Arch itself — the sun sits on the wrong side and the glow that makes the arch special is lost — so plan for sunrise there. Beyond that, and unless you're planning to camp in the park overnight ahead of a sunrise shoot, this location doesn't require unusual preparation.

3. Monument Valley

Trail Of Hope and Indian Summer were both shot at sunrise in summer from what's commonly known as Forrest Gump Point:

Be especially careful here: the classic composition means setting your tripod up literally in the middle of the highway, so you need to keep listening for approaching traffic the entire time, even before dawn when it's hard to see headlights coming over the rise. The Armada and Hymn Of Liberty came from the main valley overlook near the visitor parking, both shot at sunrise in winter:

Winter mornings here are brutally cold — my hands were completely numb by the time I finished shooting — so dress for it. Access is easy year-round, and there are plenty of motels and hotels in the surrounding area.

4. Delicate Arch, Arches National Park

The King Of Immortal World and Twilight were both shot in summer at sunset from here:

Arches National Park actually has only a couple of arches within easy reach of a road and parking lot — everything else requires a hike of 5 km or more. Delicate Arch itself is a 5 km hike each way, and the viewpoint gets crowded with both photographers and onlookers, some of whom will wander in front of your composition no matter how many people are already set up. Many photographers stay well past sunset to shoot the arch under a star-filled sky. If you do, know that the trail back runs through complete darkness — bring a flashlight, ideally a headlamp, since it's genuinely easy to lose the trail on the way out.

5. Toroweap Overlook

A quick note on geography before this one: Toroweap Overlook sits just across the state line in Arizona, inside Grand Canyon National Park, rather than in Utah itself. I'm including it here because it's reached from the same part of the trip — via Kanab, Utah — and because it's one of the finest viewpoints I've photographed anywhere in the region. The Quest was shot here, at the edge of a sheer drop straight into the Colorado River:

There is no paved road to Toroweap: expect roughly 60 km of dirt road, followed by a final stretch over rocky, uneven ground right up to the rim. I've shot here both in the evening and the morning, and both are extraordinary, because the overlook lets you point the camera in completely different directions and come away with two entirely different landscapes. Take this seriously: there are no guardrails or barriers anywhere along the rim, and the drop is a single step away in places. The nearest town with services — hotels, shops, gas — is Kanab, Utah.

Beyond These Five Locations

These five stops — the Bonneville Salt Flats, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Arches and Toroweap Overlook — are only a small part of what's photographable across Utah and the wider American Southwest; consider them a starting itinerary, not the whole map. For more of my work from the region, browse the full American Southwest National Parks collection and the broader American Landscape Photography collection.

Every print mentioned above is made to order and personally signed, on archival Fujiflex paper or as a Lumachrome TruLife acrylic face-mount. See the sizing guide for help choosing a size for your wall.