"Alstrom Point Hoodoos"

August 2012, Lake Powell, Utah
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon 16-35 lens

Storm clouds and 10,000' Navajo Mountain provide a beautiful backdrop for this pair of hoodoos overlooking Lake Powell.
"Corral in Paria Canyon"

August 2012, Paria Canyon Wilderness, Utah
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon TS-E 17mm lens

The soft light of sunset gently illuminates this corral in a remote Utah canyon.
"Dawn at Alstrom Point"

August 2012, Lake Powell, Utah
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon 24-70 lens

Dawn arrives over beautiful Lake Powell as seen from a remote area of the lake known as Alstrom Point.  Gunsight Butte dominates the scenery in the middle of the bay, whereas 10,000' Navajo Mountain can be seen rising in the background.
"Ominous"

August 2012, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Zeiss ZE 28mm lens

While not illegal, travel on Utah's clay roads during a storm is highly discouraged by the BLM, NPS, and any other agency with an acronym you can think of. The problem is that the clay turns to an impassable goo when mixed with water. It doesn't matter if you have all wheel drive, four wheel drive or an army tank - you will get stuck. The wet clay acts almost like quicksand. Years ago I tried to walk out in the stuff before attempting to drive my vehicle through. I immediately sank about a foot into the mud and barely got my foot back out. The stuff is just nasty.

The image above shows monsoon clouds blocking my only exit as I was leaving Alstrom Point in Lake Powell. I had been primitive camping for two nights on the point hoping to capture some nice shots of the lake with storm clouds. I had the whole place to myself just as I had at Toroweap earlier in the week. I love the feeling of isolation and the sound of absolute silence. I'm not sure why - it's just the way I'm wired.

Anyway, now there was the matter of getting back out. Long story short - I made it. Incidentally, the road was washed out the very next day by a flash flood.
"Goin' to Church"

March 2012, Southwestern Colorado
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon 24-70 lens

Mom and the kids heading off to church, dressed in their Sunday best (wool no doubt).
"Fallen Roof Ruin"

March 2012, Cedar Mesa, Utah
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon TS-E 17mm lens

This colorful ruin is one of the most photogenic in all of Cedar Mesa.  It gets its name from huge pieces of roof which have fallen to the ground like giant tiles.  The upper right part of this image reveals an underlying orange layer where it was once black.  Notice the large handprints in the center of the alcove roof.  These pictographs are typical of those left by the Anasazi throughout the Cedar Mesa area.
"San Juan River Goosenecks"

March 2012, Southern Utah
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon TS-E 17mm lens

This amazing view of the San Juan River is a few miles north of the tiny town of Mexican Hat, Utah.  The scene is very difficult to photograph because it is deceivingly wide. On the horizon you can barely make out the tops of some of the formations at Monument Valley some 20 miles distant.
"Lewis Lodge Ruins"

March 2012, Cedar Mesa, Utah
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Olympus Zuiko 135mm lens

This is one of those "you gotta be kidding me" ruins. After driving a lengthy 4WD road and hiking over what seemed like half of Utah, I began to lose hope that I would ever find this ruin. My gps told me that I was right on it, but my gps had proven less than reliable deep in the canyons that the Anasazi were so fond of.

I decided to sit down at the edge of a cliff and have lunch, contemplating my next move. If I couldn't find the ruin it would not be the first time this trip. I was about 10 minutes into my lunch, staring at the cliff across the deep chasm in front of me. It was then that my eyes focused on a crack high up on the 1000 foot vertical cliff. My jaw literally dropped when I realized what I was looking at. Inside the crack was an 800-year-old Anasazi community running along the fissure for its entire length of perhaps a quarter of a mile. This image shows less than half of the ruins.

I forgot about lunch and grabbed my camera. I put on my telephoto lens and began shooting. By now I was very tired, and given the obvious dangers of hiking along an exposed cliff face I decided to wait until my next trip to hike into the ruins themselves. I can't wait.
"Corral and Cottonwoods"

March 2012, Cedar Mesa, Utah
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon 24-70 lens

Nothing fancy here. Just an abandoned corral and some leafless cottonwood trees bathed in the warm soft light of sunset.
"Goin' to Church"

March 2012, Southwestern Colorado
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon 24-70 lens

Mom and the kids heading off to church, dressed in their Sunday best (wool no doubt).
"Goin' to Church"

March 2012, Southwestern Colorado
Canon EOS 5D MK2, Canon 24-70 lens

Mom and the kids heading off to church, dressed in their Sunday best (wool no doubt).
See photo in original gallery.