Three Spooky Photoshoots

Happy Halloween! I thought today I’d keep it simple and share three photoshoots that are on-theme for Halloween. As an adventure and travel photographer, not much out there in nature scares me. Well, at least landscapes. I get kind of freaked out hiking in the dark. I also don’t love being in deep solitude in the backcountry or far away from people and phone service alone. And I’m always watching out for wildlife when I’m in bear and wolf country like Wyoming, Montana, and Alberta.

But I have a few images of landscapes that I think give off some spooky vibes. Here they are!

Grafton Ghost Town Near Zion National Park, Utah

Grafton Ghost Town is an abandoned Mormon settlement near Springdale, UT. You would need to know to go look for it to find it, as there are no indicators anywhere this place even exists. It’s also off the road a bit. I’ve been there several times and we always have the place to ourselves. There’s an old church, and a few old houses. There’s also an old cemetery, detailing the tragic events of 1866. Residents were killed by indigenous people, rampant illnesses, and freak accidents, like the one that killed two teenage girls when the swing they were playing on broke. Many people died here in Grafton that year, including many children.

A few years ago, we decided to stay as the sun went down. I must admit - it was a little weird being there as it got dark. We left pretty soon after blue hour, but it was definitely one of the more spooky places and times I’ve shot.

Icefields Parkway, Alberta

One would probably never think the Icefields Parkway, one of the most beautiful and epic drives on earth, would make my list of spooky photos.

I left Jasper before the sun came up to drive back to Banff on a cold fall morning in 2021. As I was driving and the light was barely in the sky, some of the morning mist and fog began clearing at this spot on the road to reveal this devilish mountain. I pulled over to take a photo, as no one was on the road behind me or in front of me. As soon as I stepped into the middle of the road to snap this photo, a car came around the bend. The headlights, the mountain, and the mist made a perfect combo for this image.

I snapped one more once the car passed. Beautiful and spooky.

Yosemite National Park, California

Yosemite is only a few hours from my driveway, and I love going there often. In 2020, California had a tough year with wildfires. The Creek Fire, which burned 380K acres, pushed a shroud of smoke in Yosemite. As I was driving through the park, I snapped this photo. This is not sunset. This is the middle of the afternoon.

This in-fact may be my most terrifying photo, because it speaks to the reality our planet is facing with climate-change. The west is dry. Very dry. If things don’t turn around, the future is going to be very grim. The warmer the earth, the less snow we get in the Sierra’s (and the rest of the mountains). Less snow = less water running into the rivers in the spring. Less water = less agriculture and less consumption. Water is critical for life, and we are facing a major shortage here in the west, and soon, the world itself.

I don’t want to end this blog on a heavy thought, but if anything should scare you this Halloween, let it be a future where late-stage capitalism and consumer consumption never gets checked and plunges the world into a truly frightening place.

Happy Halloween, and let’s hope for a better and brighter future ahead.