Arches in Color

North Window Arch, Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah

A day before the images of my previous post, our Road Scholar photo tour was in Arches National Park to photograph Balanced Rock, Turret Arch, and the Window Arches (north and south) at sunset.

The afternoon was filled with mixed clouds -- initially not overcast, but growing thicker by the hour.  Here's the sky at our first photo stop, Balanced Rock:

But by the time we got to the Windows section, the clouds were piling up.  This is Turret Arch:

And in the west, clouds blocked the sun, except for a small gap:

So we did the best we could with the light we had, and waited . . . hoping that the sun would move into that gap and give us a blast of direct light.  

Sure enough, it did.  We could see it beginning to emerge, and everybody was getting ready . . .

Then, BOOM!   It was like someone turned on a spotlight . . .

And then, in less than 15 minutes, it was over.

As the light faded, the North Window Arch looked like the right eye socket on the face of a giant:

If you would like to see these images (and others) in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!









 

Arches in Black and White

Rain is rare in Arches National Park, but on one of the two days I was there in September (as photography coach for a Road Scholar photo tour) it was overcast and raining intermittently.  Consequently, the familiar Arches color combination of ochre sandstone and blue sky wasn't available -- it was all shades of gray.

"When you lose the light, shoot black and white."  I don't know who said that, but when I got around to processing my images from the trip (of which this is the first report), it made sense to convert the rainy-day Arches images to black and white.  Here (and above) are a few examples, most from the Park Avenue section of Arches:

And, yes, there was an arch.  This is Skyline Arch from a distance (with one of our intrepid Road Scholars working on a cool reflection shot in the pool of water) . . .

and this is Skyline Arch from below:

If you would like to see these images and more in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!