The Best of Utah: Arches, Canyons & Badlands Photography Workshop 2025
The Best of Utah: Arches, Canyons & Badlands Photography Workshop
Dates: November 5-11, 2025
Tuition: $2,795.00
Location: Moab & Hanksville, UT
Instructor(s): Kurt Budliger & Benjamin Williamson
Overview:
Come explore and photograph the best desert landscape scenery that Utah has to offer. We will be visiting both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks to photograph some of Southern Utah’s most iconic and otherworldly red rock landscapes, at a time of year with few crowds and stunning fall color. During this action packed workshop we will also visit a lesser known but equally beautiful and inspiring area of eroded badlands, mesas and canyons near Capitol Reef outside of Hanksville.
Kurt and Ben will be there every step of the way with expert guidance in the best locations during the best light, helping you along your creative and technical journey toward making the images you’ve always dreamed of.
In addition to expert photo instruction in the field, Kurt and Ben will also be conducting classroom sessions on composition, light, special field techniques such as focus stacking, as well as digital darkroom training in Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop and group image critiques.
Our Vision & Focus:
Kurt and Ben will focus on learning to “see” the landscape in new ways; unlocking creativity in situations that require conceptual and compositional ingenuity. In addition to composition and creative vision, they will discuss the best use of light and subject matter to craft more personally fulfilling and inspiring images.
During classroom sessions we will focus on teaching a logical, effective workflow that ensures the highest quality for your work, as well an image archive that is stable, consistent, and retrievable over the long term, and that ultimately liberates rather than burdens. They will cover step by step the process from shooting RAW files in the field to optimizing the final image in Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop.
Itinerary:
Day 1: Meet and greet and opening slideshow presentation beginning at 5 pm in Moab. Dinner as a group.
Day 2: Sunrise/morning shoot (approximately 4 hours field session), afternoon post processing training, sunset field session (approximately 3 hours in the field).
Day 3: Sunrise/morning shoot (approximately 4 hours field session), afternoon post processing training, sunset field session (approximately 3 hours in the field).
Day 4: Sunrise/morning shoot (approximately 4 hours field session), afternoon post processing training, sunset field session (approximately 3 hours in the field).
Day 5: Sunrise/morning shoot (approximately 2 hours field session), check out of hotel and drive to Hanksville, afternoon and evening field session.
Day 6: Sunrise/morning shoot (approximately 4 hours field session), afternoon and evening field session.
Day 7: Sunrise/morning shoot (approximately 4 hours field session), workshop concludes after morning field session.
Accommodations & Travel:
There are several airport options for travel to and from Moab, UT. Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) is approximately 4 hours from Moab. Denver International Airport is approx. a 5.5hr drive from Moab. Grand Junction airport is only approx 2 hours from Moab.
Hotel information TBA
Physical Difficulty:
For the most part there will be no strenuous hiking involved during the workshop and most locations will be near the road. Some locations, however may involve a short hike of approximately a mile (one way) with no serious elevation gains. Participants should be comfortable carrying their camera gear and personal items a min. of three miles. We will be spending a lot of time outdoors shooting in autumn weather conditions. Daytime temperatures in the desert during November can vary quite widely with an average high of approx 56 degrees and lows in low to mid 30s. It’s imperative that participants be prepared for whatever the weather has in store. This means, warm layers, wind protection, hats, gloves, sturdy hiking shoes, sunscreen and lots of water. A modest level of health and fitness will greatly enhance your experience.
Booking:
A non-refundable deposit of 500.00 USD is required to secure a space on this workshop. Final payment is due 60 days prior to the start of this workshop. There is no refund after the final payment has been made (unless we can fill your spot). Please see our cancellation policy for more detailed information.