For all of you who are unaware desert is an extremely sensitive ecosystem. Footprints can last for months or even years. To be concerned about the possibility that others might damage a beautiful sight makes perfect sense.

Based on the other videos that Ben Hogan posted during his 2017 trip to the Colorado Plateau the canyon he is talking about is near the wave, white pocket, and buckskin gulch. The area is deemed to be so sensitive by the BLM that the wave has a permit system that only allows 20 visitors a day. White Pocket is also expected to have limited entry by the end of the year if it doesn't already, while buckskin gulch requires permits to enter.

Hogan hiked six miles one way carrying an 8x10 view camera and took four photos in three days, all on fuji velvia 50 sheet film. If you watch his other videos he gives several hints as to the general area he is in. It is somewhere in the Escalante River Drainage and near a slot canyon.

I was in the general area last year, and absolutely understand Hogan's concern. I left a trailhead with a sign that said please remain on trail at all times just before dawn. After hiking nearly five miles to get to the geologic feature that I was planning on photographing I found that several people had failed to stay on the trail and there were footprints everywhere. After spending nearly an hour I finally found a spot with a rocky outcroopping for a foreground and set up my tripod with just minutes before the sun came up too far for the shot I wanted.

Just as I was getting ready to shoot a small group of hikers came up the trail and one immediately walked straight in front of my camera and climbed onto the fragile balanced rocks that I was photographing so that his buddies could take a photo.

Ruined my entire photo shoot.

In recent history two boy scout leaders have destroyed a balanced rock in Utah, another individual has destroyed a balanced rock at Cape Kiwanda Oregon, and there is an earlier post here that shows a waterfall in Joshua Tree National Park that has been tagged. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that some people do not behave responsibly in the wild.

Even well intentioned individuals often cause damage. I agree with Hogan. If you go to the trouble to do your own research and find a photographic location why should others be able to get to the site without doing the work?

I will happily share how to get to photo locations that are near roads and in plain sight, such as Thor's well at Cape Perpetual Oregon. Everyone already knows where it is anyway, but a similar feature in Hawaii that took me hours to research and find I'm not telling anyone where it is.

I take what Hogan says at face value. He doesn't say anything about people leaving trash in his video. He says they will degrade the environment, which is obviously true. Footprints mess up nature photos. More people mean more footprints.

I spend months researching before taking a photography trip. So should anyone else who is serious about photography. That's so I get photos that are uniquely mine. You want proof of what people do to beautiful sights just look at Horseshoe Bend outside of Page Arizona. It is a beautiful location, but they are now building a viewing area and making the rest of the location out of bounds to stop people from doing any more damage. That means that by next spring you can still photograph the site, but you will no longer be able to get right next to the edge and put a clinging piece of brush into the foreground. The place has been loved to death.

Sure, it is close to the road, but it doesn't matter how far you hike someone else has already been there, and they have often left footprints in really bad places.

I used to go to the Green Lakes in the Three Sisters Wilderness area. In the fall the lupine in front of the lakes were absolutely beautiful. One of my favorite places on earth. The last time I went back people had trampled all the lupine so that they could get to the lake, ruining the site. It is now under repair, but will take years to fully recover.

Last year a kid playing with fireworks destroyed much of the Columbia River Gorge waterfall region, probably for much of the rest of my lifetime, so don't try to tell me that people don't cause damage to our natural sites.

Hogan is right regardless of his true motivation.

I don't understand why 'elitist' has become a pejorative. The greater portion of the American Pubic, to me, could use some 'elitist' education so they don't think that Somebody who uses words of more than one syllable are being elitist . A few years ago people were saying that PBS was elitist because it showed ballet and classical music along with Muppets . All are great programs. And Gosh if you actually watched ballet and listened to classical music, for free, the world would be a better place. But it is so much easier to watch porn on the Internet, just so you are not being 'elitist '.

So why should this photographer hand out for free all of the research that he did? He spent a lot of time on Google Earth, satellite maps, looking for information on the Internet, a lot of time invested and you think he's being 'elitist' if he doesn't share all that research and time and effort with everybody in the world. Do you also think that Microsoft and Intel and Apple and Amazon should share all of their research with everybody in the world? Or are they being elitist too.

Sheesh.

Our national parks are certainly there for the people even if they do promptly throw trash into it. Have you taken a look in the grand canyon lately ? Look down below the outlooks and you'll see garbage strewn all over .

Ownership? Balderdash! We, as American Citizens ALL OWN the parks. Those of us here that treck into the woods, deserts or mountains and find an area, item, scene or other vision through the lens take time and effort. If I'm out pursuing what I love with my equipment how is it different than a mountain climber and Everest? Sorry, I just don't buy the theory behind the claim.

Truth be told, he's most likely afraid someone else might shoot it better, clearer and more composed.

JMHO

Truth be told your last line is pure "Balderdash" JMO. True, we all own the parks, but some that we own still require an entrance fee to access the parks that are ours. If you spent years studying the habits of wildlife and where they would be at different seasons why would you give out the GPS location of a bear or wolf den? Everyone else may not care as much about the animals as you and may not give the animal the space that it needs, I see this all the time in our National Parks. I am very careful with whom I will share info with. I spend a lot of time and money locating the subjects that I photograph and no we don't own any of them, they are all out there, all anyone has to do is to find them on their own. The other option is to hire a guide to take you out and set you up for a shot but then you pay them. There are people that don't want to put in the time and people that just don't have the time and they are the people I feel for. Besides that GPS function on my camera eats up the battery and I've never had a problem getting back to the area once I've been there. This post is about "Location Sharing" and we all know where Everest is, I think. When climbing Everest you would be using Sherpa's but I don't know any photographers that can afford that luxury, we just carry our own equipment.

One of the photography youtubers I follow posted the video below which basically states that he doesn't like to share locations that he photographs mostly because he feels he is protecting them from abuse (mostly trash and overuse). He shoots mostly in National Parks from what I can gather, Zion and Death Valley and maybe others.

He spends a fair amount of time researching (using whatever tools at his disposal, e.g., Google earth), hiking and scouting these locations before he actually shoots photos. He shoots 8x10 film mostly so he is lugging a fair amount of equipment on his treks.

How does everyone feel about this? Should we share or protect these locations?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkiyJB-uMsc&t=3s