We left this morning at 5:45AM and returned to the lodge after 7PM. Tomorrow’s adventure starts at 5AM so I am not spending too much time editing photos tonight because I need sleep. We’ll have a Digital Darkroom session when we return from our morning shoot so I’ll work on them then.
These photos are from our morning visit to Arches National Park. We arrived at South Window Arch for sunrise. After last night’s incredible windstorm, the sky was bright and clear. We climbed up to the arch and after a brief time, I realized that I was the only one still on the west side of the arch. I climbed up into the arch and looked out at everyone perched on ledges on the other side. I gasped in horror until Moose shouted that I was in people’s shot so I either had to retreat or join them. Because I never ascend or descend anything more than one or two steps high, I didn’t think I could maneuver down that craggy slope but Richard came to my rescue and took my camera and tripod while I somehow managed to slip and slide my way down. I found a place to perch out of everyone’s way and set up. The first shot shows Robert, one of my fellow photographers, carrying his tripod through the arch and that’s the moon to his right. You can get a feel for the size of this arch. And see the craggy slope I descended. Yikes.
After South Window Arch, we walked over to Double Arch. I had another chance to learn rock climbing and decided to go for it. The last two shots are inside Double Arch. Bob loaned me his 16mm Fisheye lens for the first shot. I love this look. I was laying back against the rocks for this shot. However, I’m not used to having such a wide field of view. You can see a fellow photographer in the lower right of this shot. Now I understand why I so often and easily get into trouble by walking into someone’s shot here. I’m going to have to be more careful. We all have wide angle lenses but I’m just not used to their expansive field of view. The final photo is another shot of the double arches looking up at them from outside. I took the previous photo from up inside these arches, about midway up the shaded area at center right . I managed to get down off the rocks unscathed but did have to slide down on the seat of my pants for a few feet because I was afraid I might topple down if I didn’t. I haven’t checked my jeans yet to see if they have holes. I’m sure they’re red from the rocks, though. Dang this fear of heights!
I’ll save photos from the other shoots today for another blog post.
