Best National Parks For Landscape and Wildlife Photography

National Parks - A Place To Take Great Photographs

If you were creating a Top Ten National Parks for Landscape Photography list, what parks would you include?

A Top Ten National Parks for Landscape Photography list is hard to put together. It's entirely subjective and based on my own personal experience. A top ten list is the standard, but I had a really hard time limiting my list to ten.

There were a couple that I just couldn't leave out, so it grew to twelve. Below are links to my favorites in alphabetical order. No way was I going to try to put them in numerical order. They are all fantastic in their own way.

The National Parks of the United States are amazing places to visit and photograph. There is no wonder why they get millions of visitors each year. As a Fine Art Landscape Photographer, there isn't a year that goes by that I don't return to several of our beautiful National Parks.

Although my photographs and prints are also available in the Landscape gallery of the website, I wanted to take the time to discuss my experiences in the National Parks in more detail. I encourage everyone to visit the National Parks and maybe, even so, some photography of your own there.

There Are 63 National Parks As Of 2021

I have been fortunate to have been able to visit 38 of the 63 National Parks. Some are quite remote and I will probably never be able to visit many of the ones that I have not already been to. In addition to my twelve favorites, I will add the following as Honorable Mentions for photography: Badlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Denali National Park, New River Gorge National Park, Olympic National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Shenandoah National Park, and White Sands National Park.

Photographing In The National Parks

With the availability of the internet, there aren't many secrets about where you can find a good spot to take your camera, and hopefully a tripod, and capture great images. There are plenty of photos available for ideas on this website and many others.

There are considerations at each Park as to the time of the year that is best to be there, which I will discuss on the page for each Park. My information is not intended for the end-all, so I recommend your doing as much research as you can before you go.

Reasons To Visit The National Parks

Aside from the great landscape photography opportunities, there are wonderful hiking trails and great historical information to learn. So much of the history of the United States is there in full display in visitor centers and at various overlooks and other locations. It is all worth taking to time to read and learn. I would rather be at any National Park than any theme park in the world. I am simply invigorated by being outside.

The National Parks are open 24 hours a day, which is great for getting in early for those sunrise photographs. That is one of the issues with State Parks, as many do not allow entrance until after 8:00 in the morning. You also have the option of staying overnight at National Park lodges, which allow you to be very close to your chosen subject, be it photography or nature trails. In remote Parks, like Death Valley National Park, this is a pretty big advantage.

Bring Home the Experience

If you're not an accomplished photographer, it can be difficult to capture the feel and experience of being in a National Park. Standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon or at the Snake River Overlook looking at the Tetons can be a little bit of an emotional experience. I feel it myself.

My goal is to re-create that experience by offering museum-quality, fine art landscape photography prints for sale that you can purchase to hang on your home or office wall and enjoy the memories over and over again. If you would like to purchase a print, just click on the image, and the purchase options are listed underneath. If you want to discuss, options feel free to contact me.


Click on any image to see the gallery and information for each National Park