Photo Of The Day: Drama Over Cowboy Land

This Photo of the Day was taken in Monument Valley, Utah, and comes from Gadling Flickr pool member oilfighter. It is titled “Drama Over Cowboy Land.”

“I’ve been to Monument Valley a few times, but the sky was usually cloudless,” says oilfighter. “Boy, what a sunset. The clouds broke, and the wind sent them flying. The last light of the day gave the sky a pastel pink hue.”

Upload your best shots to the Gadling Group Pool on Flickr. Several times a week we choose our favorite images from the pool as Photos of the Day.

Tips for getting featured: in your Flickr account check “Privacy and Permissions,” and check “yes” on “Allow others to share your stuff.” Adding information about your image does not hurt your chances either.

Along with “Drama Over Cowboy Land,” oilfighter tells us, “I used a 2 stop graduated ND filter to balance the exposure, and thus bring out the colors in the clouds. What a beauty!”

Photo of the Day (9.7.10)

If you’re back to the grind and Labor Day is feeling too far away already, then take a moment to check out this beautiful photo series by Italian photographer, il lele.

The set spans a road trip from Chicago to Vegas on two-lane highways, capturing some classic American portraits & scenery with a distinct vintage tone. It’s always great to see photos of America from a non-American perspective, and il lele has certainly captured some great moments, like this beautiful ‘room with a view’ in Monument Valley.

Do you have a series of photos that tell a unique story? Share them with us! Upload them to our Gadling Flickr Pool and we might just choose one as our next Photo of the Day.

Photo of the Day (02.06.10)

Don’t you hate it when you’re in a remote place and then you stumble across someone else? Suddenly your epic adventure is significantly less epically adventurous. This cow decided to take a stroll though Utah’s Monument Valley at the same time as Flickr user skinnymalinky1. And worse yet, it walked right through the photographer’s shot. How rude!

Have a picture from your travels that hasn’t been ruined by an inconsiderate bovine? Submit your images to Gadling’s Flickr group right now and we might use it for a future Photo of the Day.

Photo of the day (1.28.10)

Today’s Photo of the Day is from one of my favorite contributors, fdean55. One of my retirement dreams is to really explore the Monument Valley area in Utah down low, instead of 35,000 feet. In fact, that could have been me going by with the thin contrail behind the rock. The view from that altitude just doesn’t compare to what fdean55 captured.

UPDATE: fdean55 pointed out in the comments that it was actually Courthouse Towers, Arches National Park, Utah. Thanks

Come on, we know you have a picture or two that could qualify for our Photo of the Day! Submit it to Gadling’s Flickr group right now! We just might use it.

Scenic America: The Four Corners

When you’re figuring out where to go for vacation, you might want beautiful vistas, clean air, ancient ruins, and traditional cultures. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking they have to go to some remote country to find all that. You don’t. Head over to the Four Corners region and you’ll get all that and more.

The Four Corners, where the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet, is home to several national monuments and parks as well as some of the most stunning scenery in the country. Much of the area is taken up by various Native American reservations, including the Navajo Nation, which is the largest. This region has been a center of native culture for thousands of years, and includes several well-preserved pueblos, adobe villages preserved by the elements and their builders’ natural ingenuity. The best are Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde.

“Awe inspiring” is a hackneyed phrase in travel writing, but you’d have to be a robot not to be moved by the vast open spaces, rugged mountains, and varied colors of the landscape. The desert has a subtle beauty to it that grows on you the longer you stay. Sometimes it’s not so subtle, like when you pass through the massive buttes of Monument Valley or watch the sunset change the sky from pink to crimson to purple over the course of a quiet half hour.

While the region seems remote, it’s quite easy to get to. One scenic route is to fly into Phoenix (definitely not a scenic start, but it gets better), drive a rental car up to the old logging town of Flagstaff in the mountains, stop at the Grand Canyon and Painted Desert, and continue on to the Four Corners. You can see a lot in a long weekend, but you might want to consider staying a whole week and exploring some of the more untrod areas.

%Gallery-70174%