The southwest desert of the Colorado Plateau is one of the most sought-after locations for landscape photographers in North America and rightly so. With a higher concentration of jaw dropping parks than anywhere else in the US, you could spend the rest of your life here and still not see all of its wonders.

But winter brings a special element as the first snows blanket the red rock country giving its prominent features a fairytale look. This image made at Bryce Canyon National Park highlights its famous spires, called “hoodoos,” which are formed when ice and rainwater wear away the weak limestone that makes up the colorful Claron Formation. High on the Grand Staircase at an elevation of over 8,000 feet the air is especially cold and dry, and the park’s azure skies can often provide visibility up to 100 miles.

So if you’re thinking about a southwest road trip, consider the quieter winter months. With much fewer crowds and unique photo opportunities, you’ll be glad you did – just don’t forget the spare batteries and the cold weather gear.

The Wave, Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona

Compelling landscape photography is often comprised of one or more elements that make it stand out from the crowd. Magical light, richly saturated colors, and dramatic vistas can all make for great images, but sometimes we’re not rewarded with these sure-fire conditions even after the long hike or waiting out the inclement weather.

Fortunately there are other ways to create visually dynamic imagery when mother nature is not cooperating – namely your lens and your eyes. Perspective is a powerful tool that is controlled entirely by your choice of lens and framing. A wide angle lens with both excellent depth of field and field of view can be used to emphasize a foreground element such as a plant or rock within the context of its larger mountain or desert environment. In most cases this also creates an imaginary line directing the viewer’s eye across the frame, which in turn adds a sense of drama to the composition.

So the next time the conditions aren’t coming together the way you had planned and your landscapes are proving lack-luster,  try changing your perspective – and you might just see the scene in a whole new light.

Evening light on tufa towers at the south shore, Mono Lake, California

The Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, which was established in 1982, is one of 70 parks, historic buildings and monuments that California State Park officials plan to close by the end of June 2012 due to budget restraints. The famous south shore tufa will still be accessible (as will the rest of the lake), but the visitor center and information kiosks will likely close and with them a valuable educational resource that has helped keep Mono Lake alive.

Since the early part of the 20th century, the water rights along the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains have been hotly contested with the construction of the Los Angeles aqueduct. The classic story of how Mulholland bought up the ranch lands of the Owen’s Valley to build his dream and bring water to the desert of Southern California is well-documented in the movie Chinatown, and the subsequent LA Department of Water and Power has been in court many times over the years as a result.

Mono Lake has no outlet and its proximity near the start of the LA aqueduct makes it critically dependent on the naturally flowing streams that feed into it from the nearby Sierra. Its highly saline waters are a perfect breeding ground for brine shrimp, which in turn are the staple diet for over 2,000,000 migratory birds that visit the lake each year (including the second largest nesting population of California gulls in the US).

Fortunately we’ve had a couple of very wet winters and Mono Lake is receiving the water it needs for now. But with the growing demand of a rapidly expanding and thirsty west, its future remains uncertain.

Cliff and blocks of columnar basalt at Devil’s Postpile, Devil’s Postpile National Monument, California

This small national monument near Mammoth Lakes in the eastern Sierra Nevada is celebrating its centennial this week. It was spared a watery burial one hundred years ago today when congress saved it from a proposed dam on July 6, 1911.

Its unusual basalt columns are the by-product of an ancient lava lake, which rapidly formed and then cooled leaving behind the perfectly shaped hexagonal pillars that make up the cliff. The constant force of winter freeze and thaw is slowly eroding the formation, and the symmetrical blocks that look as though they were snapped together are littered at its base like a child’s building blocks.

The road to the monument, which is closed in winter but easily accessible the rest of the year, is just past the Mammoth Mountain ski area and is also the jumping off point for the popular Minarets and Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Antelope Canyon on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona is arguably the finest slot canyon in the American southwest and certainly one of the most photographed. Although beautiful to witness with the naked eye, these jewels of the desert really shine when a long exposure reveals the view our retinas can’t perceive – the subtle shades and hues of the sunlight as it plays on the wind and water sculpted sandstone.

Unlike most landscape photography, which benefits from the warm light of dawn or dusk, slot canyons are best photographed mid-day when the greatest amount of light penetrates the steep and narrow canyon walls.  This image was made with a 24mm wide angle lens and a 30 second exposure - no artificial lighting was used.

One of the more curious natural phenomena is the occasional tendency for nature to mimic human form. Anthropomorphic images (meaning human characteristics in inanimate objects) can appear in rocks, plants and animals. Typically they appear only for a fleeting moment or from a unique perspective, but like finding an Easter egg they are a photographic treat.

This image of Lady in a Bathtub Butte in Valley of the Gods, Utah was taken late in the day to create a strong silhouette and emphasize the outline of the rock against the blue sky. The back-lit clouds added a nice balance to the whimsical scene.

After nearly 25 years the lava on Hawaii’s Big Island continues to flow from the Pu’u O’o vent on the flanks of Kilauea down into the Pacific Ocean. In the early 90′s I was there to witness the slow destruction of Kalapana and watched in amazement as they rolled the historic painted church down the road to safety, while the palms on the famous black sand beach went up in flames.

I’ve been back many times over the years and I’m always in awe of Pele’s powerful hand in shaping these Islands. Will Rogers once said “buy real estate, they don’t make it any more”, but clearly he had never been to this part of the world!

As a followup to my last post, The Wave is another gem of the southwest that’s a very popular destination with photographers, but also one of the most remote spots on the map. So remote in fact that on my first trip I failed to find it – even with a GPS!

It’s a wonderful example of chaos theory applied to geology. Basically a petrified sand dune that’s been carved by the forces of wind and water over the ages, it’s easy to see how it got its name. I made this image a few years ago on my second trip to the area, which lies on the Arizona/Utah border southwest of Lake Powell. The image was taken with a 20mm wide angle lens to emphasize the dizzying curves and create a sense that the formation is much bigger than it really is.

I often say you could spend the rest of your life wandering around the remote corners southern Utah and still not see it all. The myriad of canyons and buttes are a feast for the eye (and lens) and are worthy of all the wilderness status we can give them. But invariably I do visit the more popular locations like Zion and Bryce where the challenge is to find those hidden gems amid the well-covered icons.

On a recent trip to Zion I made of point of getting a permit and hiking the better part of a day to a remote corner of the park along North Creek. After several miles of stream crossings and boulder hopping I arrived at The Subway – one of the jewels of the park. I spent several hours shooting this magical spot while the light continually changed as it played off the canyon walls and illuminated the stream and pools.