Utah Photo Adventure, Part 2 - Moonscape Overlook

 (NOTE: This is the second in a series of posts about a photography trip I took in early November, 2022.)

A couple of miles east of Factory Butte, the plateau from which it rises suddenly ends.  At the edge of this plateau is Moonscape Overlook.  Steep cliffs descend into a broad valley filled with strange colorful shapes and water courses.

We visited this overlook three times:  once in the late afternoon (as in the photo above) and twice at dawn.  On the latter two visits we had bright sunshine one morning and total overcast the other.

I brought my drone along, but was only able to use it on the afternoon visit, due to unfavorable wind conditions on the morning visits.  I'll share those images in a later post devoted solely to my drone photography.  But being on the edge of the cliffs about 1,000 feet above the valley floor was almost like having a drone in my hands.

By the way, all the white stuff you see on the features in the valley isn't snow -- it's gypsum, deposited from ocean water that covered this area millions of years ago.  Here's a closer look:

Using my longer lens, the view from the top of the cliffs revealed all the strange shapes and textures that wouldn't be obvious at ground level.  Here are two examples from the afternoon visit:

The next morning brought us a dramatic sunrise . . .

and gorgeous light on the valley features, bringing out the many colors of the landscape:

The next morning (our third visit), the sky was completely overcast, so no chance for the brilliant colors of the day before.  Instead, before the sun rose, we got some great "Blue Hour" images:

Eventually the sun rose high enough to brighten the clouds and overwhelm the beautiful blue light . . .

. . . so we moved on to explore other areas.

If you would like to see these images (and more) in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!