One of my favorite places to explore photographically is the badlands in central Utah, USA. I usually spend several weeks there every fall, hiking and exploring to take advantage of the cooler weather and colorful fall foliage. This trip was my second with my Mavic 2 Pro, and I knew this region was rich with new photographic opportunities from this new vantage point.

Travel in this area can be difficult due to the clay roadbeds, and since it is very remote, the weather is an important planning factor for any exploration here. The roads can easily be impassable for days after a heavy rain, and I will never venture many miles into the backcountry if the weather forecast is stormy. This year had been especially dry, so I decided to try a long, very remote camping trip into the foothills of the San Rafael Reef, where I hoped I could get close to some very colorful clay formations that looked like they should be ideal drone photographic subject material. After many miles of driving down a rocky but dry riverbed, I found myself in the middle of the clay beds. I spent some days here and never saw another person.

The claybeds are incredibly colorful and make wonderful drone subjects. The quality of the light is critical, and this image was taken just as sunrise was breaking over the horizon. I had beautiful conditions the entire time I was out here, and the vivid colors of the claybeds made for graphic and exciting abstract images.