Sedona Scenes

We took a brief, pre-Christmas getaway to nearby Sedona, about 1-1/2 hours north on I-17. Sedona’s a renowned tourist destination and we discovered that our timing couldn’t have been better. We seemed to have found a slow period just before Christmas; I’ve rarely seen fewer people in the area.

I’ll do two posts on Sedona, beginning with some favourite scenes I captured during our two-day visit, followed by some photographs I took in the course of a hike on our first morning.

My first photograph for today’s post is an iconic scene from Sedona. It pictures one of the area’s most prominent landmarks, Cathedral Rock, photographed from a location on Oak Creek. I’ve photographed this scene before (along with millions of other photographers) but I never grow tired of trying to improve on my past efforts. It was an excellent day to do it, beautiful weather and I had the location entirely to myself! The picture was taken in late afternoon, not long before sunset.

While waiting for more favourable light, I occupied some time with this next photograph of the area you see in the bottom right corner of the picture above. I used a telephoto lens to get in a little closer and slowed the exposure to 1/4 sec. to get the “streamed” appearance of the water.

Moving along, as I was leaving the park area near Oak Creek, I spotted the following scene featuring two Sycamore trees on a cliffside. The bright white of their barren branches and the glowing red rock, illuminated by the setting sun was very eye-catching!

I drove back to the hotel along the Red Rock Loop, planning a stop at a scenic pull-out. I hoped to get a post-sunset shot of the red rock in the area of Oak Creek, a village to the south of Sedona. I did get this picture in the soft light of the golden hour after sunset. I found a good location where I could frame it with the Piñon Pine on the right.

This next scene was taken at sunset the next day as we traveled from our lodging in Oak Creek Village to Sedona. It was taken from a shaded hillside and features the brightly illuminated Courthouse Butte, one of many prominent landmarks in the area.

I really like this next one. I wish I could locate the name for this group of peaks. Alas it’s not as well known as its surrounding cousins and seemingly prefers to remain anonymous. I was attracted to this scene by the foreground light and of course, the amazing clouds.

One of many attractions of Sedona is the unique shopping area, Tlaquepaque, Sedona Arizona’s Arts & Crafts Village. Authentically fashioned after a traditional Mexican village, Tlaquepaque, meaning the “best of everything,” has been a Sedona landmark since the 1970’s. Its vine covered stucco walls, cobble-stoned walkways and magnificent arched entryways give you the feeling that Tlaquepaque has been here for centuries. Following are just two of the many photographs I took at this location.

I’ll return later with a post featuring some photographs from my hike of Soldiers Pass Trail.