Pausing in the Land of Goblins and Arches
The sun broke through some clouds to highlight Wild Horse Butte as a rain storm heads to Goblin Valley State Park in Utah September 2026
Hello Friend,
As I wrote about last week, my wife and I often travel at different speeds when we visit a place. The main reason I am so much slower than her is that when I stop, I have so many different photographic possibilities I can work through.
I have more than 40 years of experience behind a camera. And in just the past few years, I’ve added a few new skills I like to play with – Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) and multiple exposure. Each of these adds time to my stops if either option speaks to me and I decide to play a little bit. Though, the most likely choice I make when photographing is between seeing the scene in color or black and white.
“The Lake Between Sun and Moon” Goblin Valley State Park September 2026
Like so many of the photographers of my age, when I really started getting into photography, it was in black and white. While in college and in my early photojournalism career, most of what we photographed, processes and printed was B/W. So, it’s not surprising that way of seeing would eventually make its way into my landscape work. Though, it took a while.
When I stopped working for newspapers, I could not afford to shoot and process film like I use to. And I no longer had access to a darkroom. So, I bought little digital point and shoot cameras to keep doing something. (See my early post about this.) Those were only made to do color. And that’s what I thought about when I bought my first DSLR. I was on a camping trip with my family in 2019, when I accidentally switched the camera from color to monochrome. I panicked, because we were heading out kayaking on a beautiful lake in Upstate South Carolina. I did figure out how to get it back to color, phew. Months later I decided to actively see what black and white landscapes would look like for me.
“When the Dragon Takes Notice of You” Arches National Park September 2026.
I know many of the photographers who work in black and white actually photograph in color and convert to B/W in Photoshop. But for me, that just doesn’t work as well. Part of it might be my years as a photojournalist. We did photograph a bunch in color, and then either print in black and white or convert in the computer. But, I noticed those images lacked pop, and weren’t as nice as the images that were shot on black and white film to begin with.
Though, more importantly to me now, and why I’m so much slower on the trail, is I need to see it in B/W while I am there at that moment. Sometimes the shapes, the contrast and the textures get lost in color, and don’t really stand out for me until I can compose in B/W and see it in the viewfinder. Also, since I use a polarizer filter, I’ve noticed what makes a color image come to life with it, has almost the opposite effect in black and white. For example, when I get some green leaves to have that nice saturated look in color, when I move to black and white, they seem lost. Then I turn the filter, and suddenly they appear again, but this time as white against a dark background or dark against a light one. Then I say to myself, “Ah, that’s what I was noticing. That’s what got my attention here.”
Clouds, rocks and trees at Arches National Park September 2026.
“Weathered Wave” Arches National Park September 2026
Some of the formations as seen outside the valley area of Goblin State Park September 2026.
I do not usually include people in my photos. And on this trip I forgot to add them give a better sense of scale. Though, this one I did get a couple walking their dog (lower left) to give an idea of the size of the hoodoos in Goblin State Park September 2026
I’m bookending this post with one of my other favorite images of Wild Horse Butte and some more clouds at Goblin State Park September 2026
Hoodoos and Clouds at Goblin Valley State Park Utah September 2026
When in Arches National Park and Goblin Valley State Park, I was presented with some wonderful grand scenes and some interesting skies. I would switch back and forth between color and B/W because in some scenes the colors of the rocks, the clouds, the sky and the trees added to the image; though, often they became a distraction from the shapes, the lines, the shadows and the textures that were drawing me in. In a good way this gets me to slowdown and better understand what’s drawing me into the scene. But I am still feeling rushed to either catch up with my wife, or find the next cool thing. This attitude causes me to not do what I tell others to do: Pause and ask yourself what is it that is getting your attention. Then putting your knowledge to work so you can showcase what that is. My usual mode is walk around, find, play, then move on. I need to do a better job of adding that pause between finding and playing around. Or even pausing when I am playing around.
September 2026
Big Flat Top Butte as viewed from Goblin State Park Utah September 2026
Particularly in Goblin Valley while noticing the more grand scenes, did I at least do this a little. The clouds were changing the views moment by moment. Even while hiking around, I did stop and wait for the shadows or the light to hit in just the way I thought might make the best image. With the more intimate photos, I seemed to just work with what was there. The larger shots I thought I was able to anticipate more what might be a good photo. But pausing to really think about the image and the why – not really.
Wild Horse Butte is one of the main features of the Goblin Valley area. And as I was moving around to different locations and the light was changing so much, it made for a fun subject. Even though I created a nice set of images in both color and B/W, I didn’t really pause and ask myself what was it about that formation that seemed to draw me back to it over and over throughout the day. The goblin hoodoos were the most unique things I had seen, though it was this butte that was the physically dominating feature of the landscape.
A group of people enter into Goblin Valley State Park with Wild Horse Butte in the background September 2026
Should I have created one image that showed the otherworldliness of the hoodoos with the butte and the great clouds? No, I don’t think so. Having an image with all three features would have been too busy and no one subject to the photo. The lead photo I had in last week’s post I think introduces the landscape the best. Though, it’s these black and white images of the park that I had the most fun seeing and creating. Stopping and thinking about it now, taking away the dominate nature of the color of the area, started to show me the shapes, the lines, the shadows and the textures that were really what this landscape was about to me.
My challenge this week is to hit that pause button for a moment – even in the act of creating – and ask what it is that’s drawing you to that creation. It doesn’t matter if you are photographing, painting, sculpting, writing, whatever, pausing before, during and after better helps us understand our creations and why we create them.
Thank you, and keep creating what you do.
Patrick Krohn
Some dead cypress branches and rocks at Arches National Park September 2026
