FILM IN THE DESERT: ESCALANTE Pt. 1
September 5 2021
There are a ton of deserts around Salt Lake City and it’s pretty easy to get to cool sandy environments if you just drive a little south. I figure I will have a lot of pictures from deserts and/or trips into deserts that I will write about so I’m going to start this as a series: ‘FILM IN THE DESERT: …’. I’ll kick it off with photos from Escalante, I have been down there a few times and have a handful of photos from each visit, so I’ll split up this post into parts, but in the future, I want to have only one post per trip.
That picture is from a hike to Zebra Slot Canyon. Escalante and the Grand Staircase National Monument are known for slot canyons and beautiful rock formations and the Zebra Slot Canyon is one of the best because of it’s beautiful striped walls.
I didn’t really capture the stripes to well in that image, but it gives you a cool idea of what hiking through a slot canyon is like. They are incredibly narrow.
That picture is a few steps outside of the slot canyon. One of the best things about Escalante is the beautiful landscape everywhere. Every scene could be a painting and I could take endless photographs down there. It is stunning for miles on end.
If you have not been to Escalante, it is on the edge of the Grand Staircase National Monument. The National Monument is accessible by the Hole in the Rock Road that extends South-East from Escalante to Glen Canyon. The road is 62 miles one way and is absolutely stunning on both sides. The Zebra Slot canyon trailhead is 7.8 miles down the road and there are so many other things along the road as you get closer to Glen Canyon.
One of my favorite stops along the road is Devils Garden. The Garden is full of interesting naturally formed sandstones structures, it’s basically a photographer’s playground. Feeling inspired by Ansel Adam’s back and white landscape photography I brought a roll of Kodak T-max with me. That was the second time ever that I shot black and white film, but I so excited for the abstract shapes in monotone that I rushed through the rest of my color to get the B&W loaded in my FG.
Later, when I got the scans back, the black and white shots ended up being my favorite from the trip. The grayscale perfectly captured the interesting shapes of the environment without complicating the scene with the harsh contrast of the blue sky and orange sand.
The color shots from Devils Garden and along Hole In The Rock Road were great too, but the black and white far exceeded my expectations. I am usually reluctant to shoot monochrome because I can’t see the world in black and white like some people can, but the frames from Escalante have encouraged me to practice more with it since black and white creates beautifully simple and striking images.
I also found that is it even more nostalgic to look at black and white photos, which is one of the main reasons I started film so that’s another thing in it’s favor
As far as gear I only brought my FG with me. I had my F3 at this point which I enjoy using more, but I was nervous of the slot canyons and getting it wet, so I brought the cheaper camera that I’d be okay with if it broke. This was important because with the F3, even though I loke it more, I wouldn’t have gotten the slot canyon images. For film I brought two expired rolls of Kodak Royal Gold 200 and a roll of Kodak T-Max 100 that was also expired. I shot both rolls 1 stop over exposed.
These pictures were from my second trip to Escalante, I’ve been there a few times, so I’ll call this post part 1. As always thanks for Reading!