Mapping Big Cottonwood Canyon Post 1 (First passing lane)

This is continuing my series on mapping Big Cottonwood Canyon.  See this post for all details of this series. 

I’ll start the series off with a site without a name. The location for this is the big turn right after the power station where the first passing lane appears. This is about 2 miles up the canyon from the entrance.

If you’re heading up the canyon the turn off is on your left right before the concrete barrier and right where the passing lane starts. You can see my car in the picture to see where you would normally park. Since this can be a bumpy area for a car to pull off I typically go up the road and turn off on the right and flip around and take a right into the area to park. I find that it’s less bumpy.

From here you’ll see a path. During the fall and when there are lots of leaves on the trees this can present some nice photo opportunities. The path goes back towards the river it is wide and very accommodating no special hiking or outdoor skill here just a simple walk. It’s a very short trail and takes less than 5 minutes to walk all the way through. If you have lots of gear or you have subjects that don’t want to do much walking this is a good spot.

 

 

There are some spots to the right of the path to get right down to the bottom of the river. Word of caution during spring this is a VERY fast moving river. Please be careful around it. If you’re down here in fall or in very early spring you can easily get very close up and personal with the river without much concern.

 

 

 

 

To the left of the trail I found a nice little out cropping that has some sheer rocks and good shade. This could make for some interesting photos and it seemed like it’s in the shade even in the midday sun so you wouldn’t have to worry about too much sun on the subject.

 

 

 

 

At the end of the trail there’s a concrete outcropping on what appears to be an old bridge or some sort of walkway across the river. You have some room to position yourself here by the river and get good shots of subjects with the river as a background.

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the beginning of the trail if you don’t go down the wooded path and instead you venture under the road you can find some interesting graffiti and underpass area. Be wary of how soft the sand and rocks are here it’s easy to slip down the slope. But this could also make for some urban graffiti type shots.

Overall this is a very quick and easy trail to get to. It’s not long and it’s got plenty of good spots to shoot at. Check it out some time and see if it will work well for you.

Link to the Flcikr Album with all these photos. 

Link to my Flickr Map with these shots on it.

Link to the Utah Portrait Map Where I have Added these pictures and linked back to this post.

Mapping Big Cottonwood Canyon

Taken at F22.0/.6 Exp/ISO 100 Nikon d80

So I’ve decided that since I’m up the canyons almost every day for lunch I would start sharing them with my fellow photographers and helping them to find places to take clients for rocking photos. This will be the first in a series of blog posts on Big Cotton Wood Canyon. I will be profiling different spots I have found that would work well for photos. Here are a few ground rules.

1. I’m going in no particular order.

2. I will post locations on my Flickr Map and on the Utah Portrait Locations map.

3. The pictures I take are snapshots. I am not trying to be artistic or show you how great my photography is I am merely there to take a picture so you know where to look before you spend the time to go up there.

4. I am more than happy to give more details about any location. I spend much of my time up here during lunch hours and early in the morning don’t hesitate to ask.

5. For this first series I will focus on everything

from Moss Ledge picnic area and lower. This is what I call 15 minutes up the canyon. Basically you can get to any of these sites in no more than 15 minutes even if you’re stuck behind this guy.

6. Right now all the pictures I am taking are  during spring time. I hope to update with winter/fall shots but we’ll see how the series goes.

I’m here to help and would even be happy to scout out some locations if you need and take some snapshots. Just drop me a line and let me know.

Now that we have that out of the way what should you take when doing a shoot up here in the mountains? Sure your normal gear is going to be fine but I would suggest a few other things that might help as well.

1. Reflector/lite disc I’m sure we all have this with us for shoots. It’s equally important in the mountains. Although you would think the mountains or trees can provide some shade sometimes there will be rays of sunshine coming through the tree’s that can either help or hinder your shot. Reflectors/lite disc are good for dealing with these.

2. Towel. As they say in Hitch Hikers guide to the galaxy. Your towel is important. If you’re shooting near rivers you never know when someone or something (like your camera) might want to take a dip. Towels are also great for sitting on rocks that are not so comfortable for your subjects. A blanket can work here as well but it’s bigger doesn’t absorb water as well.

3. Lightstand / Mini stand for your flash. My Nikon Sb600’s come with little stands that I can use to stand the flash on. If you want to use off camera flash in the mountains you either need a Lightstand of some sort or some mini stand. Sandbag can work here as well but most won’t have a good way to make the flash stand up so some creativity might be needed.

4. Dress appropriately if you don’t do much hiking or working up in canyons/mountain area’s you should make sure to have a light jacket with you and some decent walking shoes. A first aid kit is not a bad idea as well if you’re planning on leaving the designated trails.

I hope you can use this information to get out and enjoy the Canyons and take some great pictures.

Look for the next post and first location in the next few days.

Pat