Begin Your Photography Journey into North Park

Photographic Journey into North Park

Whether you are a professional photographer or just starting out, there is one thing both have in common: finding new and interesting places to shoot. After a while, you might find your galleries are getting stale with those rudimentary city shots or endlessly scrolling through Instagram, looking at the same overdone National Parks or well-known landmarks.

In your quest for the best shooting location in Colorado, you need to set your sights on more off-the-beaten-path locations. Places with enough variety in one location to really pique your interest and set your creativity ablaze. Only a few hours from the Front Range, in North Park, you will find a place that has an incredible variety of places to shoot that will enhance your repertoire as well as make your photos stand out among more of the same. 

A Wide Range of Photographic Opportunities

North Park gives visitors a wide range of vistas, from sunlit alpine tundra and flagging pines to meandearing rivers, sand dunes, forests and wildlife, and sunsets unlike anywhere else. Part of the reason North Park is so photogenic is due to a combination of altitude, surrounding mountain ranges, and remoteness.

Our sapphire blue skies seem close enough to touch, with clouds that pass over just a few thousand feet overhead. The Park Range and Medicine Bow mountains catch much of the predominant weather from west to east. It’s not uncommon to see looming thunderheads on the horizon or little fluffy clouds drifting by lazily in the summertime. 

At sunrise and sunset, the mountains also provide a longer golden hour and even a strong blue hour that has to be seen to be believed. You could take a photograph of the same spot throughout the year and find something surprising nearly every day. With only a few towns scattered throughout Jackson County, the lack of air pollution and that brown cloud haze you’ll find in other places won’t mar your background—unless it is wildfire season.

Wildlife and Wild Times

While the rest of Colorado is becoming more and more built up, with cities encroaching on formerly wild places, the footprint of our communities in Jackson County have changed very little in the last twenty years. This is due in part to the sheer acreage of public lands in North Park. The rolling hills of the interior basin are typically managed by the Bureau of Land Management, with highland desert sage brush, grassy river bottoms, and windswept prairies. 

The Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge takes care of much of the Michigan River basin south of Walden. The Refuge is a birder’s dream, with several species of ducks, geese, cranes, and songbirds that live, breed, and migrate throughout the year.

All of these public lands are home to big game wildlife such as moose, deer, pronghorn, and elk. During the months of April and May, the moose begin their migration along the willow stands, feeding as they climb higher into the cooler temps and solitude of the mountains. Large predators such as bears, mountain lions, wolves, and raptors stalk and hunt. 

Birds of prey such as golden eagles, bald eagles, hawks, and falcons can be seen riding warm thermals from the plains and basins. At night, great horned owls hoot from their nests in cliff faces and hollow tree trunks. In the wintertime, snowy owls can be seen dropping in on snowshoe hares and mice that have come to the surface of the crusty wind sculpted snow.

The terrain throughout North Park is comparable to a much larger Rocky Mountain National Park, without the crowds and traffic. Our biomes are even more diverse, with a larger high desert basin, hundreds of miles of alpine forests, high country tundra, wetlands, and even sand dunes. You’re as likely to find cactus as you are cattails; North Park is home to quaking aspen trees, desert junipers, and so much more.

Direct Access to Amazing Locations

If you know the right place to go, you can find some incredible shots for wildlife photography. Throughout the year you’ll have access to remote mountain locations via hiking trails, horseback riding trails, and even OHV roads. Here are some suggestions for places you might want to mark on your map.

• Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge
• Colorado State Forest State Park
• Zirkel Wilderness Area
• Rawah Wilderness Area (accessed from the North Park side)
• Never Summer Mountains
• Owl Mountain
• North Sand Hills Recreation Area
• Routt-Araphaho National Forests

Sage Grouse Viewing

Perfect for birdwatchers and wildlife photographers, the North Park Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting the annual Greater Sage Grouse Tour in April, 2025. For two weekends, you can take part in a curated tour of several leks, or sage grouse breeding grounds, where you can witness the iconic mating dance you have probably seen on nature programs and magazines. Check out this article to learn more about it!

Dynamic Weather

You might notice how low the clouds are. At 8100 feet, Walden sits in the center of a high country desert, surrounded for miles by rolling hills and river valleys. In less than 20 miles in any direction, the altitude steeply inclines and the surrounding ranges top out around 12000 feet. We have the best of both worlds, which gives our skies unique lighting, shadows, and tonal contrast that is perfect for photography. Passing clouds offer contrast throughout the day and videographers can expect to get some great shots beneath passing shadows.

North Park Photography Backdrops

Whether you are delving into creating a vast social media gallery or if you are a professional photographer, all of these different backdrops will give you plenty of options for the perfect shoot. North Park has been one of those hidden gems for engagement photos, wedding photos, graduation pictures, and just about anything else you can think of.

Landscape and wildlife photographers might need several visits to even scratch the surface of what they will find here. That isn’t to say we don’t have our share of local color and interesting characters for street photography and even documenting the pastoral life of ranchers. Western traditions are very much alive in Jackson County, with a large number of our inhabitants still relying on the land in working cattle ranches throughout North Park.

You might encounter a real-life cattle drive in the spring, or branding during mud season. In the summertime, we really show our roots with the Never Summer Rodeo. You’ll have a chance to work on your action shots with team roping, bronc busting, and bull riding in late June.

Other Events to Tantalize the Senses

From ultramarathons to endurance bike races, car shows, vintage snowmobile racing, and dog sledding, North Park always has something going on to attract your artistic eye and allow you to play with light, motion, and other elements to create art!

Check out our Never Summer Rodeo festivities in June, along with street dances, open craft shows, and a local parade that is brimming with local color and culture. There’s no better place to land when you are looking for the best place to take photos in Colorado!

Suggested Camera Equipment

A photoshoot day in North Park will give you plenty of chances to experiment with your equipment to see what works best for you! Even if you are just starting out and rely exclusively on your iPhone or Android, you’ll be surprised at the results.

Just remember to be respectful of people and wildlife when filming. Never harass wildlife or livestock—not only is this illegal, but it could result in injury to the animals or yourself. 

What to Bring

Since North Park is so out of the way, you are going to want to come prepared. Here’s a list of some suggestions for photography equipment you will want to bring with you on your visit.

Camera bodies: Digital cameras are amazing tools for beginner and pro photographers. Come prepared with your full-frame digital or micro 4/3 setup. It never hurts to bring a second (or third) camera body so you don’t have to worry about swapping out lenses, especially in inclement weather or dust. Film cameras work well with the abundant light and contrast of clouds and mountain shadows.

Lenses: You’ll want to pack your best weather proof/resistant pro lenses. Wide angle (12mm-40mm) will work great for landscape photos, whereas telephoto will let you get close up shots of wildlife without ruining the shot or putting yourself in danger. Kit lenses or prime fixed lenses will turn out some amazing shots. A variable focal length telephoto will let you get the best of both worlds.

Macro Lenses: From wildflowers to insects, you’ll find plenty of opportunity to get some macro-photography in during your visit. 

Plenty of SD cards and batteries: You are going to fill up those SD cards and drain your batteries very quickly. With the nearest place to buy replacements a few hours away, you need to show up prepared.

Drones and videography: Unlike Rocky Mountain National Park, North Park doesn’t have nearly the number of restrictions against using drones or videography. You’ll be able to get some great content for your VLOG or vertical video content creation on social media. Be among the first influencers to discover North Park!

Tripods: If you are shooting time-lapse photos, working to get that perfect waterfall blur, or indulging in some world-class astrophotography opportunities, you’ll need to keep your camera steady with a quality tripod. With our dynamic weather and lighting, you’ll love the results with elapsed time videos of weather and sunsets.

Bring Your Camera and Find Your Creativity Again!

As a photographer, you’ll find nearly unlimited opportunities to capture images on your visit to North Park. As the seasons change, and picture perfect winter landscapes give way to the wildflowers and green of spring, to the wildlife and unreal skies that summer brings, and the vibrant colors of Fall, you have 365 excuses every year to get outside and take some photos. 

Come prepared with your favorite camera and equipment as well as a willingness to rekindle that sense of wonder and curiosity that first drew you to your photographic journey as an artist and a creative. We hope to see you soon!