Monochrome in Mineral Springs | Jianna (Patreon)

This set with Jianna was never supposed to be some big production. It was one of those in-between shoots. We had some time, found ourselves in the Mineral Springs area just off Potash Road, and decided to make a few frames.

The light was incredibly strong.

It was the middle of the day, the sun was high, and the contrast was about as intense as it gets. Most people would wait for softer light, but every kind of light has something it's good at. Here, the direct sun was doing exactly what I wanted it to do.

That's why these ended up in black and white.

The Mineral Springs area is full of weathered sandstone cliffs and boulders that have been shaped over millions of years. Under hard light, every crack, texture, and edge becomes exaggerated. The rocks almost stop looking like scenery and start looking sculpted.

I think that's why these images work.

By removing color, your eye pays attention to shape, shadow, and texture. The cliffs feel massive, the foreground rocks have this almost tactile quality to them, and Jianna's white outfit becomes the brightest point in the frame. Everything simplifies into form and contrast.

The styling helped, too. The fringe boots and cowboy hat give the set this western feel that fits naturally in Moab. Nothing is overly complicated. It's just a strong subject placed in an environment that already has an incredible amount of character.

The funny part is that we'd actually been here earlier in the week and didn't realize it.

A few days before this set, we had done the Moab Rope Swing and literally jumped off a roughly 600-foot cliff with a rope attached to us. At the time, we had absolutely no idea where we were. It wasn't until we came back to shoot this set that we realized we were basically right next to the same spot.

Moab is weird like that.

You spend enough time out there and everything starts connecting together. One random adventure leads to another, and an unplanned, in-between shoot ends up becoming one of my favorite monochrome sets simply because the light was strong, the textures were incredible, and we happened to stop in the right place at the right time.