A FULL DAY IN ARCHES - April 3

A FULL DAY IN ARCHES: April 3

We were off this morning to photograph Turret Arch with morning light. I got to photograph it through North Window. There was a short hike to the small ledge area where 4 of us could set up tripods for the shoot. We all agreed that we would not have tried to get to the area on our own. Mark has been there many times, and helped all of us in the short scramble to get into position. I did not have a problem with it, though I did have my camera bag and a tripod. We passed those on up the line as we went over the difficult area.

The effort was well worth it. We got some good photos with clear skies for lighting. Occasionally we had to wait for a shot as other people would come to North Window and look around. It did provide perspective for the photographs occasionally. We were shooting on the East side of North window looking West with Turret Arch about a quarter mile from North Window. Once back on the West side of North Window we continued to photograph Turret Arch. Here I made a few mistakes with my photography using Graduated Neutral Density filters, but will probably salvage a few of them.

Back in town we had breakfast at the Moab Diner before a mid-day rest as we were planning on night photography as the skies were clear. Early dinner was at the Fiesta Mexicana before heading back to Arches. We made a quick stop at Fiery Furnace before getting to Skyline Arch for sunset light. Skyline Arch was doubled in size in the early 1940's when a very large boulder fell out of it!!  We had a good shoot there.

The evening was taken up with driving back to Park Avenue for our first shots of the night sky. This took a while as people had to set their cameras up for the right WB, ISO, etc. for capturing the sky with as little noise as possible, and no star trailing. We shot Orion in this area, as well as Casseiopiea. We also did some light painting of the rocks. Sometimes we had to wait for cars to pass on the road so we did not have their car lights lighting up the red rocks. About 2230 we moved back to Balance Rock for some more photography. We had hoped to get some of the Milky Way, but we were too early for it. We were able to get the Big Dipper in our photographs though. Finally about 0015 we
called it quits.

Back at the house, it was time for a quick shower, and then off to bed. Three and a half hours later we were getting up for sunrise pictures. Grabbed a cup of coffee, and a yogurt, and we were off once again.

Pictures will follow soon so please check back.

Earth Shadow through No. Window

Turret Arch before Sunrise

Sunrise Light on No. Window and Turret Arch

Turret Arch through No. Window at Sunrise

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Turret Arch and Crescent Moon

Skyline Arch after Sunset

Orion Over Park Avenue