Greetings from the beautiful state of Utah!

As some of you may already know (whether from recent images on this site or first-hand experience), fall season in the Wasatch mountains was a spectacular affair this year. The maples put on an amazing show of color after the summer's rains, and many are predicting this to be the last of six years of drought.

The Canyon Country put on an amazing show of its own, as it does year and again. Many who visited Zion National Park were greeted with dazzling displays of cottonwood, boxelder, maple, oak, and ash. The high plateaus glowed with the golden autumn coats of aspen, now shed in anticipation of winter's snows.

For those seeking solitude, that much and more lies in the wilderness of Grand-Staircase Escalante, Dixie, the San Rafael Swell, the Kaiparowitz, and any number of other rugged and blissfully remote areas. For anyone who has yet to don a backpack and seek inspiration in these wilds - just do it! In one way or another, the experience will change you.

I found an interesting quote recently, translated from a Portugese song by the group Madredeus - "to describe the sea and fail is the only way to understand it". I find the same holds true for any wild place - words and images will always fall short of describing the sensory and spiritual experience of actually being there. You can feel it too!

Guy Tal

The Sales Pitch

Let me dispose with the mandatory plea for your hard-earned dollars first.

If you enjoy our images on the web, you will love them in a large, detailed, expertly produced print. Remember also that these and other writings and images depend on your support. If you find them valuable - consider purchasing one of our fine-art prints.

The holiday season is upon us again. If you needed an excuse to purchase a print for yourself or a loved one - wait no longer. Keep on mind that these prints are individually produced and take time to prepare and ship. Don't wait for the last minute. This season we are promoting our Matte prints, printed on fine-art Moab Entrada paper, made right here in Utah. See more information below.

By popular demand, Michael Gordon and myself are in the process of preparing two or more workshops for 2006. Our Introduction to Large Format workshop in the Eastern Sierra was a great success and we would like to offer it again next year. We are also soliciting interest in a Wilderness Landscape Photography workshop to be conducted off the beaten path in Southern Utah's spectacular canyon country. If you are interested in these or other classes, be sure to visit our workshop site at GTWorkshops.com.

Canyoni Semper Liberi

On a recent trip, my friend Steve Cole and I went in to visit an outdoor outfitter near Zion National Park. I'm not sure what it was that caught the attention of one of the employees (perhaps it was our interest in Canyoneering shoes and dry suits) but he asked if we've been out Canyoneering.

I always associated the term with the sport of Canyoneering - a unique form of rock climbing that's quickly gaining in popularity, but before I was able to answer, Steve explained "well, we've been hiking, and we were in a canyon so - yes." This was not an attempt to joke - he was completely serious, but it did make me rethink a few things. I know Steve cares very deeply about Utah's canyon wilderness. To him the specifics and semantics of various activities are secondary to being physically present in this majestic scenery. Knowing this, I soon realized what he meant.

Canyoneering, hiking, climbing, photographing, backpacking, or just drifting away in thought perched on a precipitous ledge or watching warm sunlight bounce off steep walls in a remote canyon, are all part of the same experience - the wilderness experience. An experience that is all about freedom - the freedom to go to and get lost in a place like no other. The freedom to find solitude, to challenge and test yourself against the elements and against yourself, to be inspired, to be scared and vulnerable and threatened, to watch the stars at night with no sign of humanity in sight, and to wake up to a blissful silence in a world that is as pristine and beautiful today as it was before the dawn of mankind - all are parts of the same whole that is being in the wilds of the Colorado Plateau.

Whether you walk, rappel, or climb really doesn't matter after a while. Once you go far enough and deep enough and long enough - you are there. Canyoneers are always free.

Matte Prints - the New Look of Photography

The advent of digital imaging technology revolutionized photography in many significant ways. Digital cameras have obvious put a big dent in the film market, but in my opinion digital printing is as much a shift in paradigm, if not more. Most of us think of resin-coated paper when we think about photograph. The glossy or textured surface (previously referret to as matte) with its glossy, specular surface is what a photographic print looks like. Or is it?

For the longest time, inkjet printing technology was in a race to catch up with traditional prints made on light-sensitive material and developed in a lab. While I can see the importance of such capability and the value of making it widely available, I also think many miss an important point - these printers can do a lot more than just provide a substitute traditional prints!

It's debatable whether inkjet (sometimes called Giclée) printers are as "good" as prints made on photographic paper, but there is one thing they undoubtedly do much better - print on a variety of materials not previously used for art prints, specifically fine-art matte paper. This is essentially the same paper used for watercolor paintings and is not resin-coated. It provides a slightly textured non-reflective surface that most would not readily associte with a photograph. That is - until they've seen one.