WestWorld and Dead Horse State Park

After we got home and re-digested all our photos, it's hard for us to post further photos.  One thing for sure happens.  The photos that we thought were satisfactory, turn magical when we are home.  We're not sure why, but it always happens.

One thing special happened this time, and as I was binging my way through Westworld, almost every episode had pictures that we had taken or been in our recent trip.  So many of the locations
from Monument Valley...

to Dead Horse State Park.....

What Dead Horse, who's ever heard of this place? We certainly hadn't but one visit there and Walt couldn't wait to go back.  And yes, the river is that green. There are 2 rivers in the area, and this is not to be confused with Green River.  This is the famous Colorado River.

But it's also the location of the famous train scene from WestWorld.

Here's another shot with the sun a little higher in the morning.

And higher still.  The view is really that beautiful and you can see why

From the WestWorld intro.  There's some CG going on here, cause there is no train that runs through the valley. 

As you can tell, there's an emblem in the river bank to the left of the river.  In real life, that isn't there.

But what impresses me as much is how we got the lighting so great on our shots.  Dead Horse Point faces south.  That means you have the sun to your left at sunrise and to the right at sunset. This is the perfect location for landscape art photography. I know you've always heard to have the sun behind the photographer, but for art photography, you really want the sun on the left or right of your subject to create the best shadows and high contrast between the light and dark. 

Normally, landscape is best at the "golden hours" either right after sunrise or right before sunset.   These hours are the best.  But this place even takes a great shot in the middle of the day (above.)