Zion National Park is not being quite as supportive of camera supports this year as in the past. If you run a professional photography workshop, participants will have new limits on tripod use in Zion National Park, according to new park rules that went into effect at the beginning of this year. Want to create a stunning nighttime panorama? How about a poster-sized vista filled with intricate details? Better check the park rules before you go.
The concern is that large groups of photographers and their tripods may obstruct trails, which they are sharing with the general public. Apparently, it has been a problem, and the park is addressing it by tightening up the rules for photo workshops. Those running workshops “are responsible for the conduct of their clients and must advise clients to stay on trails, walk single file, and allow the public to pass,” notes the rules. “The use of tripods on trails is prohibited by permittees or clients (monopods are authorized)” it goes on to state.
A stronger set of restrictions was publicized in January, but a letter to photography workshop participants that was sent out at the end of the month softened them: “Participants in Commercial Photography Groups may only use tripods in designated areas of the park, such as roadside pullouts. Because of the workshop group sizes, the use of tripods on park trails, including the Narrows, is not authorized so as to not impede access of other visitors…thereby preventing trail congestion, potential safety concerns in some areas, and to mitigate environmental effects,” said Philip Arrington, Concession Management Specialist. “Large groups concentrate in one place can result in trampling of vegetation soil erosion, widening of formal trails, and impact other visitors’ experience of the natural views and soundscapes along the trails.”
Groups are permitted to travel up to 100 feet off trails, and can set up their tripods as long as they’re on hard surfaces or “existing disturbances” to set up while avoiding destroying any foliage. This is a softening of more restrictive wording that was first reported on social media (including an earlier version of this article). Individual photographers have no restrictions on tripod use. (Drones, however, are forbidden for everybody.)
If you plan on running a workshop, you’ll need to get authorization, and groups are limited to no more than 12 participants. This is another way that park management hopes will keep the park as pristine and undisturbed as possible. Monopods are permitted, even for professionals.
Tip: A compact alternate to tripods:
The Platypod Ultra Plate Camera Support () was specifically created to let you take pictures in the most cumbersome or impractical locations. That way you can take your images — stable ones, at that — and stay within current or future location rules where tripod use may be banned or limited. Win, win.
