Utah Adventure 2020: Epilogue: Utah Adventure 2020

Every time I go on a photo trip, whether it be a short one or two-day excursion or an extended trip like this one, I learn a bunch of things: I learn more about my passion photography (both technically and artistically); I of course learn about the place I am visiting; and, I learn more about myself. I think that's what I find so enjoyable about taking these trips. Sure, I am hoping that I can capture an amazing image or two, but it is truly the journey, as they say, that inspires me. And, being an only child, I enjoy the solitude as well as the freedom to go where and when I want!

I won't bore you with everything I learned from this trip, except with regards to Utah itself. Utah, specifically southern Utah where I spent most of my time, is a diverse, desolate, yet amazingly beautiful place. I knew this beforehand, which is largely why I chose this destination of course, but I was still struck by the sheer beauty of the landscapes. On many occasions upon rounding a curve or cresting a hill I would literally exclaim, "OMG", "amazing", "awesome" or "that's cool"!

As I mentioned previously, most of my planned photo stops were outside the national parks. For one, I wasn't interested in simply taking the same photos that tourists and many photographers take (though I did take some of these too!). Secondly, Utah has some incredible landscapes that are not in the national (or even state) parks, which in and of itself is pretty astonishing. For the most part in this regard, I was able to capture the images I wanted (plus more).

That all said, I was indeed surprised how beautiful and photogenic the national parks were. The pictures that I had seen online do not do them justice, and unexpectedly I was able to capture some good images in the parks. The only park of the "Big 5" I didn't visit was Zion, but I definitely liked Bryce and Canyonlands the best. Arches is very scenic too, but after awhile, the arches just seem to blend together, at least from a photographic perspective.

So the question is: will I ever go back to Utah? I always say I would like to return to the places I have visited, but the reality is that I have so many other locations I'd like to photograph. But if I did, I would likely pick a smaller geographical area on which to focus. In retrospect, I probably had too much on my plate. I spent quite a bit of time driving from one location to another, more so than I expected. As a result, I lost a fair bit of shooting time, and I wasn't always able to be in a location at the time of day I wanted to, such as sunrise. And, many of the locations required a significant hike to get there. I'm not adverse to hiking, but the hikes chewed up even more time. Plus, some of the hikes were rather aggressive (even though they were rated as "easy" or "family friendly"). After all, I'm no "spring chicken" anymore (Mary Jo said that makes me a "fall chicken", which is probably pretty accurate), and it definitely takes longer for me to recover from these excursions (a week plus in this case).

Where to next? Well, I'm not sure. Mary Jo's cousin Eric, who is also an avid photographer, and I have been discussing the possibility of a photo trip together. Right now we are thinking either Iceland (which would be a return for me) or the Canadian Rockies (Japser and Banff National Parks in particular) in 2021. However, it all depends on COVID-19. Both Canada and Iceland currently prevent people from the US traveling into their countries, so we will just have to see how things pan out. If I do go to either of these place (or someplace else), I will definitely be blogging!

Okay, enough rambling. I will leave you with some additional images from my adventure. Thanks again for reading my blogs and for all the generous feedback!