Quickie Photography Destinations

[Hany Aziz]

Any suggestions for destinations for photography. Basically a destination that would allow me to fly to it and enjoy a nice 3-4 day weekend photographing, generally a 3 day holiday weekend possibly with an extra day off. I prefer to fly and dislike long drives (anything over 100 miles). Ideally it should involve:

1. Proximity to a major airport, allowing one to fly in and reach the desitnation quickly.
2. Spectacular and somewhat unique scenery. I genreally prefer landscapes (e.g. Yosemite, Antelope Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Rocky Mountain National Park etc)
3. Ease of getting there. The overall ease of flying in, renting a car, staying close to my destination and then flying out. The idea being that the whole trip does not turn into a tiring logistical nightmare.

Reasonable options I can think of are Yosemite (using Fresno as the airport) and Rocky Mountain National Park (using Denver). I live in the Northeast US and would ideally prefer destinations that don't turn into a hassle flying to them but am generally flexible.

Ideas? Suggestions?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Sincerely,

Hany.

[Walter Calahan]

Provincetown!

Puddle jump from Boston. Great landscapes along the National Seashore. Eclectic architecture and people. No time-zone change.

Good enough for Edward Hopper; good enough for me.

But do it after high season, with a cottage in Truro-bama.

Second on the list, Asheville, North Carolina. What's not to like.

[Bruce Pottorff]

Fly to Palm Springs. One hour to Joshua Tree N.P. Piece 'o cake.

[Frank Petronio]

Salt Lake City has a lot within 50 miles or so. The Salt Lake itself is a cool subject, the mountains are beautiful, and all the women are blonde.

[BarryS]

My favorites are usually Denver and Albuquerque. From Denver, RMNP is great, but lately, I've been heading west since I like the high desert. The area around Grand Junction and Colorado Nat'l Monument is very nice and it's a short and spectacular drive to drop down into Utah and visit Arches. Maybe a little more driving than you'd like but the drive is gorgeous. From Albuquerque, heading north offers a lot of possibilities and the drive isn't long to get Sangre de Cristo mountains and the loop outside of Taos.

[Skorzen]

Where in Massachusetts are you? There are some great locations in Western MA. The Potholes in Shelburne Falls are interesting and there is a lot of great scenery along rt. 2 in the Berkshires.

[k_redder]

I vote for Seattle. My favorite destination. My favorite part about the area is the range of environments within a couple of hours of the city. Mount Rainier NP, Mount St Helens, the Cascades, Olympic NP, Lake Crescent, rain forests, beaches galore, you name it, and you can get to any of it within 2 hrs of the city. My only problem with it is there is so much to see and do it's impossible to do it all in one trip (which is why my wife and I keep going back again and again).

[John Kasaian]

Fresno is good, but if you're doing this on a 3-day holiday go to Sequoia / Kings Canyon National Parks---less crowds!

Fly into Montery or San Luis Obispo and Big Sur is close enough for your pleasure.

Fly into Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe and portions of the Eastern Sierra are within easy striking distance.

Fly into Sacramento and the Gold Rush towns are a hoot and holler away.

Fly into Bend, Oregon and there is plenty of spectacular scenery close by.

Flying into Santa Rosa will get you into the heart of the Wine Country and Redwoods quick enough.

Flying into Las Vegas will put you within striking distance of Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon if you budget your time carefully.

There's lots of stuff to shoot around Santa Fe, NM (the enchanted circle makes for a fine day trip) and Salt Lake City, Utah (the Wasatch and the Great Salt Lake) and dno't forget that Jackson, Wyoming is close by the Grand Tetons and Bozeman, Montana will give you entry into the Gallatin and Yellowstone.

These are just a few places. The hardest part I think would be to pick just one!

[Mark Sampson]

Phoenix can lead to Arcosanti, Sedona, and Flagstaff, which leads to the Grand Canyon, and that's just in one direction.

[Bill_1856]

Hi Hany,
I believe the most exciting single photographic destination remains POINT LOBOS. It took me three trips before I began to get anything that I wasn't ashamed to print.
Fly into Monteray, stay in Carmel, and enjoy great accomodations and food, as well as several of the premium photography galleries in the US.
But since you'll be flying rather than driving, you will probably have to leave 100# of your famous camera collection at home.
Best luck.