Can you believe that summer is already right around the corner?? Time is flying! I am getting ready to open up my availability for booking through the end of August, starting tomorrow at 9am! Click HERE to see what I have available in real-time and officially book your session, and click HERE to see my entire 2026 family mini session schedule!
Every summer I look forward to going to one of my very favorite places, Albion Basin, to do photography! It is the most incredible landscape of wildflowers in every color, and an absolute must-see! It is at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, just past Alta ski resort. It is accessible via a dirt road that is only open during the summer months (the exact dates vary from year-to-year, and mostly depend on the snow levels and road conditions). It is growing in popularity (for good reason, because it is absolutely amazing!)... but with that comes heavier crowds, traffic, and parking challenges. I hope this blog post helps you as you decide to plan your family photo session at Albion Basin this summer! The best flowers tend to pop around the middle-to-end of July, but every year is different and it often depends on the snowpack. With the mild winter we had this past winter, I would guess that the flowers could peak and die off even earlier. It is gorgeous even if it is not in full bloom, and we can also still get some great "flower shots" with just a few flowers!
I offer both mini sessions and full sessions at Albion Basin. The biggest difference is that with a full session, I'm yours for the whole evening and we won't be juggling between two client sessions. The mini sessions are great if you are looking for something shorter, a little more affordable, and you are flexible with the added bit of juggling that I need to do to get between two spots at Albion. I have done it this way for many years, though, and it usually works well!
General Albion Basin tips and information:
- The locations that we will do the photos at, are up a bumpy dirt road, following a toll booth (location linked HERE) at the end of the paved part of Little Cottonwood Canyon/Alta Ski area.
- Bring a vehicle with high clearance if you plan to drive the dirt road. It has some very large speed bumps! I have (sorta :)) managed them OK in a minivan, but any low clearance vehicles will struggle and may get the bottoms scratched up on the big bumps.
- Parking is very limited, and the location is VERY popular. Once the lots at all of the trailheads are full, they will keep a line of cars at the tollbooth and only let one car up every time a car leaves. On weekdays, I have seen lines at the tollbooth anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour. On weekends, it can be well over 1 hour of waiting. The lines tend to be shorter if you arrive when the sun is still high (like before 6pm) and the other crowds of people haven't gotten there for the sunset shots. Plan to arrive at least 45 minutes prior to your scheduled session time just to be safe, and plan for some downtime and waiting for the parking and getting the best light.
- Plan for paying a toll booth fee (it was $12 last year, but has risen little by little every year).
- I try to carpool with clients whenever possible! There is a lot of parking around the toll booth and Alta ski area, and very little parking up the road (1 mile or so) where we will do the photos. I usually will coordinate it with you depending on your needs, but if you have a smaller family and want to fit into my vehicle (I can seat 4 extra people), I am always happy to arrive earlier and be the one to wait in the tollbooth line. You can park near the booth (where there is a lot more room to park), and hop in my car and skip the line. If you have a larger group and would prefer to take your car, but have an extra seat in the car, I would recommend you arrive significantly earlier and save your spot in line, and I can hop in with you (if you have room) or take my own car through the booth. When I have two clients booked for minis, I will usually coordinate between the 1st client and the 2nd client for carpooling, or take my own car.
- Bring a bag with your nicer shoes that you want for your photos (especially if you are doing the lower/forest location), and bring more comfortable shoes for walking/hiking to the spot. It also helps to bring anything you or your kiddos might need, like things to touch up hair/clothes, snacks/water, baby wipes, kleenex, etc.
- Bring bug spray! The mosquitoes tend to be pretty bad, especially after rain storms.
- Plan that the trails can get pretty dusty. I do my best to work around the dust, but everyone ends up a little dusty and parents might get a few dusty hand/footprints on their clothes from their little ones. :)
- It is critical that we stay on the trail, and that we do not disturb or pick the flowers. Many of the areas are roped off so that people will stay on the trail. I will not be taking your group off the trails, even if other people are doing so. You can get ticketed and fined for doing so, and it is just not good for the longevity of keeping these beautiful flowers around for the future. I can get lots of angles and shots that still have the "standing in the flowers" look (they have some great roped-off areas for this!), but I won't actually take you off the trail for these. I can, and do, edit out the ropes that you will see along the trails. If we can all do our part to respect the beauty of this location and stay on the trails, the flowers will look amazing for years to come! This location required permits a few years ago because of the popularity and high demand (which I did go through the lengthy and expensive permit process at the time). They have since stopped requiring permits, but we all need to respect this incredible location and take good care of it so that we can continue to be allowed to use it.
- Bring your patience! The crowds and parking can be challenging, but the photos are once in a lifetime!
- Keep an eye out for wildlife... I often see moose up here! It is truly a magical place!
Info for the Flower Meadow Location (latest time slot):
For the iconic "flower meadow at sunset" shot, you will want to schedule your family at the later time slot at Albion Basin (7:30/7:45 pm start time- sun goes behind the mountain between about 8:15 and 8:30). We will meet at a small parking lot that sits right at the meadow, so you don't have to walk very far down the trail to get the shot! It is in full sun, so if there are no clouds, you will get a few shots with the brighter sun behind you (see some of the example photos below of this first session), and then we will work quickly as the sun starts to set behind the mountain and the light changes from that bright harsh light, to the incredible sunburst right at sunset (my favorite!!), to the 15-20 minutes of "blue hour" light that allows us to get more of those vivid pops of colors from the flowers, before it gets dark!
Pros of the sunset time slot:
- Incredible lighting and views that are too good to be true! It looks like the Swiss Alps!
- Being at the area with typically the most flowers (but no shade) - the iconic Albion Basin shot with flowers as far as the eye can see, and a panoramic view of the mountain tops.
- A shorter walk to get to the spots we will do photos at (we can get great photos and stay as close as 100 feet from the parking lot, or walk further down the trail to get a few different looks!).
- This spot has some great roped off areas that pop out to the side of the trail so that you can get the "in the flowers" shot without actually going off-trail or outside the ropes. These are awesome little cut outs, and sometimes we have to wait for a turn at one of them to open up, but they can really make an awesome shot.
- Significantly more crowded. Parking can take a long time to wait for a spot, and can be a significant challenge if parking is not secured in time for sunset (truly, bring your patience and come plenty early! It's worth it, but it requires some patience! ;)).
- Trail is a LOT more dusty because of the heavier traffic along that area.
- Lots of people coming and going down the trail and needing to have some patience while working around other groups doing photos, stepping aside, etc.
- Later time slot can be challenging with babies and younger kids that have earlier bedtimes and may not be as happy/cooperative.
- Fewer crowds, shorter wait times for the toll booth and parking, in and out and done with the session more quickly. Fewer distractions of all of the crowds of people passing by (this can be hard and distracting for some kids).
- A beautiful backlit glowy forest setting, right up in the trees. We will also get a few with the mountain range showing behind you, but you may be in full sun for these if we have no cloud cover.
- It is a little different look and location than the iconic "Albion flower meadow shot" (if that is what you are looking for) that is featured in the earlier photos of this post- but still absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! It is more of a greenery, forest, hiking trail through the woods kind of look. There are definitely some flowery spots, depending on the time of the season, but they are a little less abundant and you have to hike a ways to get to them.
- It is a longer hike to get to the spots with flowers (and my favorite spots along here), but we can stay fairly close to the parking lot if you don't want to walk far and still get some great shots. For the spots featured in the photos below, it is about a 0.25-0.5 mile hike up the trail (tip: bring different shoes to walk in and then change shoes when you are ready to pose for photos).
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