Dreamscape: Adventure reader Dale Johnson's meticulously crafted photograph of his wife in the swirling vortex of Utah's Vermilion Cliffs left our photo editors stunned.

"My wife and I were driving from our home in Portland, Oregon from southern California via Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in southern Utah (a small detour). We spent the entire day in this surreal spot photographing, talking, and exploring. The sandstone formations captured our imagination and inspired us both.

"The formations were visually overwhelming, so trying to capture the scene in a photo was challenging. We tried many angles, shot both with and without people and at different times of day. This image, our favorite, was taken in the afternoon when the canyon was fully illuminated. A few puffy clouds had just floated into the scene. My wife and I thought that putting her in the bottom third of the image would help anchor the viewers eye, give the area perspective, and communicate the sense of wonder we felt viewing this landscape."

Photography Notes

• Camera: Nikon N90
• Film: Fuji 100 negative
• Lens: 28-85 mm
• Shutter speed: N/A
• ISO: 200
• Aperture: f/22
• Time of day: 1 p.m.

Critique
"This shot's punchy colors give it the look of a hyperrealistic tableau. The composition is very clean and symmetrical. Dale was right to include his wife in the image. She's a point of entry into the photo, the shot's focal point, and, perhaps most importantly, she gives the reader some perspective, some idea of scale. Often when taking pictures of nature at its most wondrous, amateur photographers omit people to leave a wild scene wild. This can be a mistake. Grand settings need a counterpoint to illustrate just how epic they are. Dale's photo is a perfect example of this."