Mesa Arch
I haven’t had a chance to shoot any new scenics for a few weeks, so I spent a while last night looking through some shots I took at Canyonlands NP in Utah in June 2008. Barbara and I were staying in Moab and I got up shortly after 4AM (the sun comes up early on June 16th and I had a drive of just less than an hour to make) and went in search of Mesa Arch in the hope of photographing it at sunrise. The arch is famous for the reddish glow on its underside at sunrise which is caused by sunlight reflecting off the cliff wall below the arch. If one were to walk under the arch, he or she would not be heard from again as it’s a very long way down! It was fairly cloudy when I arrived at arch after a short hike from the road and I was concerned the anticipated glow would be a no-show. I was joined shortly after my arrival by a photographer from Indiana. We had a pleasant conversation as we waited for the glow, but it didn’t occur when we expected it. After a while, the other fellow gave up and left. Fortunately, I stuck around for a few more minutes and good things began to happen. Included below is a shot of the arch as one approaches on the trail. There is also a panoramic picture of the glowing arch which is a composite of four images I took with the equivalent of a 19mm lens. I used Panorama Maker software that Barbara got me for Christmas to stitch the images and it did a great job. Images shot with an ultra-wide angle lens can be difficult to stitch into a panorama. I used a telephoto lens to photograph the rock formation known as Washer Woman (see if you can pick her out). Using a telephoto lens compresses a scene. In this instance it makes the La Sal Mountains and other features in the background appear closer to Washer Woman.
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- Canyonlands National Park – Mesa Arch by Van Slider
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- Canyonlands NP – Mesa Arch Panorama by Van Slider
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- Van Slider at Canyonlands National Park – Mesa Arch
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- Canyonlands National Park – Washer Woman by Van Slider
