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UTAH

Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Moab, Arches, Monument Valley

UTAH

ARIZONA

GRAND TETON

YOSEMITE

BANFF

Imagine the eye-popping hues that saturate this landscape.

Moab, Utah and the Navajo Tribal Park located in the Southeastern part of the state offer some of the most breathtaking and recognizable scenery found anywhere in the world. Towering sandstone cliffs, mighty Colorado and Green Rivers, carving deep into the canyons, arches, domes, mesas and buttes. All of which can be found and will be photographed during this incredible photo adventure. Just imagine the eye-popping hues that saturate this landscape. The deep-crimson canyons of Zion National Park, the delicate pink-and-orange minarets at Bryce Canyon, the swirling yellow-white domes of Capitol Reef. This relatively small section of land is so spectacular that it encompasses three national parks.

Our adventure includes places like Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Castle Valley, Valley of the Gods and of course Monument Valley. We’ll also spend time hiking the narrow Calf Creek Falls canyon in the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. Each location has its own personality, be it the delicately eroded hoodoos in Bryce or the massive sheer cliffs of Navajo sandstone found in Zion Park. Both offer endless photographic opportunities. In and around Capitol Reef are places like the free-standing monoliths in Cathedral Valley or the moonscape terrain found around the Caineville Wash just outside the Park.

During the spring photo adventure, we’ll have the snowcapped La Sal Mountains as a backdrop which can be seen from many of the desert locations we’ll visit around the Moab region. If Mother Nature cooperates large blooms of bright yellow arrowleaf balsamroot will add to the selection of features to include in your photographs.

This adventure is designed not only to guide you to the most photogenic locations carefully planned for the best light but to aid you in mentally visualizing a scene before capturing the decisive moment. Our aim is to raise your awareness and spark your creativity so that you not only go home with images to be proud of but use your new found skills to improve and expand your photographic technique in general. Apart from the technical aspect of learning your camera settings and capabilities, you will learn how to turn an ordinary image into an extraordinary image by using your own creativity.

In addition, you will become knowledgeable on how to survey the landscape, and utilize and approach your environment. Our time together will include individual and group discussions, inspiring ideas, and great fun. We cannot think of a better location to express your creativity than the stunning beauty of Bryce and Zion National Parks in Southwest Utah!

Please note: Our photography guide will always be on the look-out for interesting images during our photo adventure and for this reason, our itineraries are always subject to change. Weather plays a major role in capturing the best images possible. Changing light and weather conditions will always be assessed and changes in the schedule will be made accordingly. Flexibility, patience, and a sense of adventure are key to having a great time and capturing stellar photographs.

Springtime will offer both perfect temperatures for desert hiking, as well as catching the wildflowers blooming in many of the locations we will visit.

Our adventure includes places like Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Castle Valley, Valley of the Gods and of course Monument Valley. We’ll also spend time hiking the narrow Calf Creek Falls canyon in the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. Each location has its own personality, be it the delicately eroded hoodoos in Bryce or the massive sheer cliffs of Navajo sandstone found in Zion Park. Both offer endless photographic opportunities. In and around Capitol Reef are places like the free-standing monoliths in Cathedral Valley or the moonscape terrain found around the Caineville Wash just outside the Park.

During the spring photo adventure, we’ll have the snowcapped La Sal Mountains as a backdrop which can be seen from many of the desert locations we’ll visit around the Moab region. If Mother Nature cooperates large blooms of bright yellow arrowleaf balsamroot will add to the selection of features to include in your photographs.

This adventure is designed not only to guide you to the most photogenic locations carefully planned for the best light but to aid you in mentally visualizing a scene before capturing the decisive moment. Our aim is to raise your awareness and spark your creativity so that you not only go home with images to be proud of but use your new found skills to improve and expand your photographic technique in general. Apart from the technical aspect of learning your camera settings and capabilities, you will learn how to turn an ordinary image into an extraordinary image by using your own creativity.

In addition, you will become knowledgeable on how to survey the landscape, and utilize and approach your environment. Our time together will include individual and group discussions, inspiring ideas, and great fun. We cannot think of a better location to express your creativity than the stunning beauty of Bryce and Zion National Parks in Southwest Utah!

Please note: Our photography guide will always be on the look-out for interesting images during our photo adventure and for this reason, our itineraries are always subject to change. Weather plays a major role in capturing the best images possible. Changing light and weather conditions will always be assessed and changes in the schedule will be made accordingly. Flexibility, patience, and a sense of adventure are key to having a great time and capturing stellar photographs.

Springtime will offer both perfect temperatures for desert hiking, as well as catching the wildflowers blooming in many of the locations we will visit.

Group Size

4-6 Guests

Experience | Difficulty

  • Beginner, amateur, enthusiast and semi-pro photographers
  • DSLR, mirrorless, compact or iPhone cameras
  • Moderate schedule
  • Travel by car or minibus
  • Moderate elevation changes with moderate amounts of hiking
  • (non-photographers also welcome)

Weather | Sun

April – Temps 61/43 F  16/6 C  Sunrise 6:34 | Sunset 8:17 (20:17)

Includes

  • Travel, landscape, nature and wildlife photography
  • Professional photographer | guide
  • Photo walks, hikes & discussions
  • Small group size (4-6 guests)
  • 4 or 5-star hotels (except in remote locations)
  • Breakfasts
  • 2 Dinners
  • National Park Permits
  • Local transportation

Travel Information

Arrival Airport: Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah (SLC) – Transfer time to hotel 30min
Departure Airport: Las Vegas International Airport, Nevada (LAS)
Our adventure begins at 11 AM on the first day and ends at noon on the last day.
Travel Visa: A visa may be required depending on your nationality. Go to Visa Map to find out.

Accommodations

Salt Lake City – The Grand America Hotel or similar
Moab – Holiday Inn Express & Suites Moab or similar
Monument Valley – Goulding’s Lodge or similar
Torrey – Capital Reef Resort or similar
Bryce Canyon National Park – Stone Canyon Inn or similar
Bluff – Desert Rose Inn & Cabins or similar

Utah Prices & Dates


AdventurePriceREGISTER
From: $8,995
From: $9,395
Photographer Leader

Photographer Leader

Jerry Adamo

September 7-16, 2024
April 19-28, 2025

*All prices are per person and based on double occupancy. Please select single occupancy for a private room. For your convenience, we offer optional early arrival and late departure accommodations so you can extend your stay before or after the trip. We typically stay in upscale boutique hotels in the 4 and 5-star category. Not all destinations offer these types of properties. We look for unique hotels that offer cultural, historic, and/or authentic features. Depending on the size of the group, smaller boutique hotels may have limited room inventory. In some countries or in remote locations, we may be limited to lodges or branded chain hotels. In Cuba, we stay in upscale family-owned Casas (bread & breakfasts). On all of our tours, breakfast is almost always included, but not guaranteed. Meal categories listed include (B) for breakfast, (L) for lunch, and (D) for dinner.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

UTAH 10 DAYS

Day 1 | Salt Lake City - Antelope Island State Park

We meet at our hotel in the late morning for our first lunch together as a group. Afterward, we will go over PWA’s “10 Guiding Principles to Great Photography” as well as our “THE ART OF SEEING” photographic technique. After a short break, we head out to Antelope Island State Park to photograph bison and the sunset over the Great Salt Lake.

Day 2 | Wasatch Mountains - Moab - Castle Valley

We check out of our hotel and head into the nearby Wasatch Mountains to take advantage of the morning light. The North Fields in the Heber Valley will be our first stop. In the distance towering above the lush green farmland is Mount Timpanogos which will still be covered in snow. In the meadows, we’ll have horses, old barns and perhaps sandhill cranes as possible subjects to photograph.

Leaving the Valley we head east and then south on the remote back highways to Moab. After checking into our hotel and taking a brief rest, we will take a drive deep within a canyon along the Colorado River to visit The Fisher Towers, Castle Rock and other fantastic formations in and around Castle Valley. If conditions are right we’ll fine-tune your sunset shooting skills including instructions on how to capture the details in the darker regions of the canyons as well as the brilliant colors in the sky.

We’ll enjoy our “Welcome Dinner” in Castle Valley along the Colorado River prior to our sunset shoot. (B) (D)

Note: Each night during your adventure we’ll assess the weather conditions and for those interested, there may be a late night or very early morning wake up call to head out to do some night sky photography. Timing will be determined by the position of the Milky Way.

Day 3 | Moab - Canyonlands - Arches National Park

We get an early start with a drive into Canyonlands National Park to one of the scenics overlooks high above the Colorado and Green Rivers. Dead Horse Point State Park may be taken in as we explore the “Island in the Sky” region of the National Park”. A breakfast picnic may take place since we will not be returning to Moab until afternoon.

For a view from below the cliffs, we’ll be taking a drive down the Shafer Trail and possibly along part of the White Rim Trail, “roads” once used during the uranium mining boom of the 1950s. Looking high up on the surrounding cliffs you’ll be viewing the spot where we photographed from earlier in the morning.

We return to our hotel for lunch, rest up and possibly do a review of your images to date. Later we’ll head to Utah’s best-known scenic attraction, Arches National Park. In the spring wildflowers will make for a great foreground with massive sandstone buttes everywhere you look. This is a wonderful time of day to capture Balanced Rock, the Three Gossips and the Courthouse Towers. When we arrive back in Moab we’ll have dinner before retiring for the day. (B)

Day 4 | Arches National Park

We return to Arches National Park to photograph the early morning light as the sun appears over the La Sal Mountains. The famous Turret and Double Arch formations in the Windows District will be the main subject this morning with the snow-capped La Sal Mountains as a spectacular background and a dramatic contrast to the red-rock desert landscape before us.

Your guide and instructor is always there to point out composition and camera setting options. Small adjustments in either case or both, can make a big difference in the quality of your photographs. Identifying and understanding possible options and fine-tuning these skills is the goal of PWA, along with having a wonderful time! There are many easy to reach photographic opportunities within the Park and we’ll cover as much ground as possible but the emphasis here, as will be the case during the entire adventure, is to capture quality images, not quantity.

After our morning in Arches, we return to Moab for breakfast. The destination for photographing sunset will be determined by what we’ve managed to capture so far and as always by the weather conditions. You won’t be disappointed! (B)

Day 5 | Moab - Valley of the Gods - Monument Valley

A chance to sleep in… kind of! We will have breakfast at the hotel before checking out as we leave Moab behind and make our way south towards Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.

We’ll have lunch along the way before driving on a short distance to a seldom visited area called Valley of the Gods. Here we will have freestanding sandstone pinnacles towering above us rising hundreds of feet from the desert floor. If our timing is right and Mother Nature cooperates we should also have wildflowers to work with as a foreground to your images. We can perhaps practice macro photography but that will be an option and technique considered during the entire workshop.

We check into our hotel then spend time photographing sunset around the Navajo Tribal Park before dinner. (B)

Day 6 | Monument Valley - Capitol Reef National Park

We have a very early start today as we join a local Navajo guide for a private tour into a restricted area of the Park for sunrise. Our native guide will be happy to answer your questions and help educate us on the landscape as well as the traditions and life of the Navajo people.

We return to the hotel, have breakfast then check out before we start our journey back to the North then West with the destination of Capitol Reef National Park for the night. If time permits, we make take a drive to The Goosenecks which shows the power of the San Juan River as it winds its way through the desert far below. Hold On!  Where’s the road?! Hidden in the sheer cliff walls east of Valley of the Gods appears a steep switchback road, an incredible feat of engineering called the Moki Dugway. As we climb higher and higher along this gravel road rising above the desert floor we’ll stop to take in the view, take a breath and of course to take some photographs.

Continuing our journey we enter the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area as the road crosses over the Colorado River just before it enters Lake Powell. The water level of the lake has dropped quite dramatically in recent years exposing the once submerged twist and turns of Glen Canyon. We’ll take time here to wander around exploring this amazing landscape before continuing our journey towards Capitol Reef National Park. A

fter a drive through the National Park, we arrive in the small town of Torrey which is located right at the west entrance. We will check-in to our hotel and after resting up, we return to Capitol Reef for sunset at Panorama Point or some other appropriate location depending on lighting conditions. We then return to Torrey and enjoy a much deserved night’s sleep. (B)

Day 7 | Capitol Reef National Park - Bryce National Park

We start this day retracing our way through Capitol Reef to photograph sunrise around the lunar-like landscape of Factory Butte within the Caineville Wash. There are many options for photography and your guide will help in determining where the best locations to the head might be.

After checking out we once again turn to the South making our way along what to many is the most scenic highways in the United States to our next destination Bryce National Park. Along the way, we cross through the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument with several vistas showing the twist and turns of the water carved sandstone canyons far below.

We check-in then have dinner before heading to the nearby rim of Bryce National Park to photograph the delicate formations below-called Hoodoos at Sunset and Sunrise Point. (B)

Day 8 | Bryce National Park - Zion National Park

The morning starts at Sunrise Point for what else, sunrise! Breakfast snacks will be provided as time is short and the light changes rapidly. Next, it’s over the rim and into the canyon we hike. Going down is the easy part. It’s the climb back out that’s more difficult as we are at a deceivingly high altitude of 9,000 feet. The effort is well worth it and we will never be in a rush. Should you decide not to join the hike there’s plenty to see, photograph and enjoy along the rim of the canyon.

We’ll check-out of our hotel, have “brunch” and move farther south to Zion National Park. As we drive from the east entrance of the Park to the west, we’ll make stops along the way to take in the view and make some photos. At the opposite end of the park is our lodge in the town of Springdale. After checking in we’ll make the short drive back to the Park somewhere along the Virgin River to photograph the sunset illuminating the steep red canyon walls that surround us.  Dinner back at our hotel. (B)

Day 9 | Zion National Park

No visit to Zion is complete without venturing deep into the canyon where the Virgin River exits the world famous “Narrows”. A shuttle will take us to end of the road where we’ll get out and walk first up the narrow canyon before returning downstream to capture some of the other dramatic landscapes the Park has to offer.

Photographing in these very narrow canyons can be a challenge and we’ll show you the tricks to capturing the stunning scenery before you. There is plenty to see and photograph within the Park. As always, we’ll assess the conditions and adjust the itinerary accordingly to get you to the best locations for the given light so you have the opportunity to return with spectacular images.

Lunch will be in Springdale where afterward you’re free to rest up and or explore the small town. Next, we’ll return to the Park for the late afternoon light. The high red rock walls streaked by “Indian varnish” seem to glow in the light late in the day and we’ll explore locations along the Virgin River to capture this spectacle.

We’ll return to Springdale for our “Farewell Dinner” then retire for much needed and deserved rest. (B) (D)

Day 10 | Zion National Park - Las Vegas

On our final day together we’ll enjoy a nice breakfast in the town of Springdale. During that time we’ll have a discussion about our trip, answer any questions and trade contact information. After checkout, we’ll head west to Las Vegas and either drop you at the airport or at your hotel, where we’ll bid you farewell.

We urge you to extend your stay in Nevada and make good use of everything you have learned on our photo adventure. (B)

(B) Breakfast, (L) Lunch, (D) Dinner, (E) Excursion

 

May all who come as guests... leave as friends®

 

OPTIONS AND BENEFITS

Pricing

All prices are per person and based on double occupancy. Please select single occupancy for a private room. For your convenience, we offer optional early arrival and late departure accommodations so you can extend your stay before or after the trip. We typically stay in boutique hotels in the 4-star category. Not all destinations offer these types of properties. We look for unique hotels which offer cultural, historic and/or authentic features. Depending on the size of the group, smaller boutique hotels may have limited room inventory. In some countries or in remote locations, we may be limited to lodges or branded chain hotels. Breakfast is included only if included in our room rates.

Private Guided Adventures

We offer amazing private guided photo adventures, cultural tours and vacations for individuals, couples, families and groups. We can customize any of our published adventures, as well as others, to meet your individual needs, schedule, budget and interests. This may include the finest 5-star accommodations, business-class travel, and private guides and fixers who are able to make the impossible possible. If you are not interested in a photo-centric vacation, but you love our approach to private travel, we will be happy to design and deliver an amazing adventure focused on travel, culture and cuisine. Click here to request a quote. Feel free to call us at 1-888-834-0288 or contact us for more information.

Travel Insurance

We offer travel insurance through the internationally recognized Travelex Travel Insurance Company, as well as evacuation and medical transportation insurance through MedJet, one of the best in the industry.

The cost for travel insurance can be as low as 4% of the total trip cost, depending upon age and other factors. Knowing you have trip cancellation coverage can make a big difference should you have to cancel for some unforeseen reason. Travelex Insurance Services is a BBB Accredited business with an A+ rating. Click here to learn more about why you should consider travel insurance.

Rewards Program

Start earning points today and SAVE $200 - $900 off future trips!
Simply register for one of our amazing photo adventures and begin earning points today!

How The Program Works
For every adventure reservation you make with Photo Workshop Adventures, you earn valuable points which you can redeem on your next trip. This is a great way to save up to 8% off future trips. Our Rewards Program is designed with three tiers: Orange, Gold and VIP Members. Points may be applied towards balance payments on your next trip, or you may choose to accumulate points for a free trip in the future.

ORANGE REWARDS
All guests begin with our Orange Rewards Program (Level 1), which earns 4 points for every dollar you spend. You begin earning points immediately after your first trip. A $5,900 spend earns 23,600 points with a value of $236 USD.

GOLD REWARDS
With our Gold Rewards Program (Level 2), you earn 6 points for every dollar you spend. Orange Members who reach 120,000 accumulated lifetime* points (approx. 4-6 trips), automatically move up to Gold Rewards. A $5,900 spend earns 35,400 points with a value of $354 USD.

Additional Gold Benefits:

  • Earn up to double points during promotional events
  • Advance notifications for upcoming adventures and special offers

VIP REWARDS
With our VIP Rewards Program (Level 3), you earn 8 points for every dollar you spend. Gold Members who reach 350,000 accumulated lifetime* points (approx. 8-12 trips) move up to VIP Rewards. A $5,900 spend earns 47,200 points with a value of $472 USD, (8+/-% discount).

Additional VIP Benefits:

  • Earn up to double points during promotional events
  • Advance notifications for upcoming adventures and special offers
  • Ability to Gift or Transfer points to others
  • Receive complimentary airport transfers at the destination location*

Redeeming Your Points
Redeeming your points couldn’t be easier. You can always log in to your account to check your points balance. When you are ready to book your next trip, register and pay your deposit. When you go to pay your balance you will be given the option to apply your points and receive a discount.

THINK ORANGE Magazine

Subscribe to our Think Orange Magazine and eNews. THINK ORANGE is a wonderful mix of stories and tips related to travel, photography, adventure, culture, art, technology, cuisine, lifestyle, people and more. Our objective is to immerse you in a world you may only fantasize about. Raise your awareness and inspire your creativity. Perhaps even help make you a better photographer. We deliver similar experiential experiences that our guests enjoy on our photo adventures. Like all of our adventures, our blog is “photo-centric”, while also allowing you to experience all the nuances and cultural aspects of travel and adventure. Welcome to our world. We hope you enjoy. Our eNews is a great way to receive information about upcoming photo adventures, exciting new destinations, photography tips, special offers and more. Subscribe today!

Gift Cards

Give someone you know a Gift Card, good toward any of our Photo  Adventures, Photo Tours, Private Guided Tours, Online Courses, Prints or Merchandize. Our beautifully personalized eGift Cards and Certificates are delivered to you electronically. They are fully transferable and have a 2 year expiration date. They are available in any amount from $100 to $5000. It makes a great gift for anyone who loves photography, travel or adventure. Order now, or email for more information.

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