Slickrock and Shadow

Paria Sundial on a beautiful day I know there is a lot of potential to discover new amazing rock formations in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  Much of this land is relatively undiscovered and difficult to reach.  The West Clark bench sits north of the famous Coyote Buttes of Arizona.  The Arizona-Utah border and the Buckskin slot canyon separate these 2 formations.  Brain rocks and amazing colors are present in both locations. On my first visit to the West Clark bench, I was exploring randomly.  There is no trail.  Wandering around the sandstone cliffs and formations is the only way to go from one place to another.  I came across this unique formation which reminded me of a sundial.  The curve in the capstone as well as the curve rock gathered at the base caught my attention.  I took several photographs of this formation but I could not be satisfied.  Landscape orientation did not include the beautiful sky for th...

Gordon Smith, Utah Photographer -- hiking in the desert and sandstone While wandering around the West Clark bench, I found a unique rock formation.  The skies were not particularly good for a dramatic shot but I thought this formation was interesting nonetheless.  I decided it might make a good environmental self-portrait.  The self-portrait is something most artists do at one point or another.  Some people are very famous for doing several self-portraits.  It is a way to experiment artistically.  In this case, there was not much to experiment with.  My legs were tired after hiking about 10 miles.  I set up my camera and stood next to this wonderful formation and a Gordon Smith self-portrait was born.