Author: Kelly Guymon Photography

I enjoy exploring the natural world looking for experiences and places that soothe the soul and bring joy to the heart. I love to wander in the desert, mountains, hills and wherever my four wheels will take me. When I hike, I’d rather be looking at the flowers or mountains and trees, instead of rushing to get to the end of the hike. By looking at the tiny details, I get a wonder of the beauty that is out there. I love to photograph nature in all its forms, whether birds, landscapes, animals or flowers and everything in between. I also enjoy traveling to new places in order to see and experience new things. I caught the photography bug in the late 1970’s and have enjoyed creating art ever since.

PFTA: John Ford’s Point

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park on the border of Utah and Arizona. At the time, I was a tour guide and brought two wonderful couples from Germany here and was able to join them as translator. During the tour, we stopped at John Ford’s Point overlook. There was a Navajo gentleman who rode his horse out to John Ford’s Point and waved his hat for the tour groups that visited the Valley.

John Ford’s Point got its name from the movie director John Ford as a tribute to him for bringing Monument Valley to life on the Big Screen. Mr. Ford filmed several movies in Monument Valley, including John Wayne’s famous She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. The ending of The Code Talkers was also filmed on this point.

The history of this valley and area is vast and deep, and there is no way I could ever do it justice. I will just say that it is an amazing place that should be visited and hallowed as sacred ground.

Enjoy,

Kelly

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PFTA: Great White Throne

First, I must profusely apologize for not posting for a while.  Life has been very busy lately and I’ve had an extremely poor internet connection for a while now.

Anyway, this image is of the Great White Throne in Zion National Park.  It’s probably one of the most photographed peaks in Zion Canyon.  I took this image a couple of years before the massive landslide that closed this area off completely.  This landslide dropped over 24,000 tons of rock debris in seconds that basically destroyed the East Rim Trail and Weeping Rock area.

This is likely one of the last images of the Great White Throne from this angle that anyone can take, at least for a decade.

This image is available on my Artpal store

 

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PFTA White Pocket

White pocket is on the Arizona Strip near Page and Lake Powell. I went here a couple of years ago and got lost, got found and almost stuck in the sand in the middle of nowhere. Otherwise it was a fun trip. The formations here are absolutely stunning. I will be posting other images from this area soon.

This image is available here.

Enjoy!

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Virgin River

Last week, I hiked along the Middle Emerald Pools Trail. This trail has been closed since the trail head was washed out in a flood in 2010. It was reopened last September after years of repairs and stabilization work in the trailhead area. It was close to sunset when I captured this image of the Virgin River looking towards The Great White Throne. This is also part of the Weekend Sky challenge .

This image is available as a print on Art Pal: Virgin River

Enjoy!

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Pegasus Bridge

I have wanted to post about this for some time, and now I have the perfect opportunity. This is my entry for CFFC’s (CEE’s Fun Foto Challenge) Bridge Challenge.

Pegasus Bridge was originally named the Caen Canal Bridge until 1944 when it was renamed Pegasus Bridge in honor of the Ox and Buck Light Infantry captured this bridge on 6 June 1944. These troops landed mere meters from their objective in Horsa Gliders. They were the first paratroopers who landed in Normandy on D-Day and captured this bridge within 10 minutes intact. This raid was made famous in the movie The Longest Day. This bridge was decommissioned in 1994 and replaced with an exact replica. The orginal now sits in the grounds of the Pegasus Bridge Museum in Ranville-Benouville, Normandy.

The troops also captured the bridge across the River Orne, with the objective of keeping these bridges in Allied hands intact, while destroying the bridge over the River Dives to keep German troops from getting reinforcements to Sword Beach, where British troops landed on D-Day, and to destroy the gun battery at Merville. These missions were accomplished with heavy casualties. There are 2,000 soldiers buried in the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery, not far from the Pegasus Bridge Museum. For more information, you can visit the Pegasus Bridge Museum website.

Here is a replica Horse Glider.

Here is the Pegasus Bridge:

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Great Conjunction

I do realize I’m a few days past the Great Conjunction.  It’s the first chance I’ve had of examining my photos of this event, so here goes…

Here is what it looked like in Southern Utah from La Verkin Overlook.  There were several people there that night enjoying the sight.  It looks like I caught the moons of Jupiter, and if you look close, you might see the shape of Saturn with its rings.

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PFTA: Valley of Fire, AKA Veridian III

Today, I decided to go back a couple of years to re-visit Valley of Fire State Park, in Nevada, or, as my friends call it, Veridian III.  It was here that the ending of Star Trek: Generations was filmed.  It’s an amazing place with a lot of history and gorgeous vistas.

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Enjoy,

Kelly

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PFTA: Cedar Breaks Weekend Sky

Life has been quite busy lately with work and dealing with the covid restrictions.  I haven’t been able to get out and shoot lately, so I decided it was time to pull another photo from my archives.  This time, it’s from a trip a couple of years ago to Cedar Breaks National Monument in Southwest Utah.  Cedar Breaks sits at an elevation of 10,000 feet above sea level.  This photo was taken along the Alpine Pond loop trail.

I found Hammad’s photo challenge, so I decided to participate.

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Enjoy,

Kelly

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