Arches National Park, Utah

This is a flashback to a trip Linda and I took to southeastern Utah last October.  We were exploring the red rock country from the Green River area to Monument Valley in northern Arizona.  One evening we drove into Arches National Park to photograph the late light.  Arches is located near Moab, which is the perfect place to stay to explore several state and national parks.

It is nearly impossible to find unique photos in Arches National Park.  The place is so beautiful that I can't imagine how many photos have been taken there.  After entering the park, there is a steep hill to ascend, followed by this magnificent sandstone ridge called Park Avenue.  As the sun descended in the west, shadows from another ridge were outlined on the huge formations of Park Avenue.

Continuing on, we soon came to Balanced Rock, another site that has been photographed thousands of times.  As the sun continued to drop in the west, the rock took on a bright glow.  Pretty, but what could be done to make it different from the average tourist photo?  I decided to fill the sky with this rugged old tree as a companion to the beautiful red rock.

We really weren't very far into the park when we turned down a side road to the Windows area.  The scene was changing fast as the sun nearly touched the horizon.  When I got to North Window there was a crowd there watching the moonrise through the arch.  Just a couple of years earlier, I had the good fortune to photograph a sunset here when I had the view to myself.  Anyway, I kind of like having people in the picture to add human interest and scale.  By now, the very low sun had turned the reddish brown rock a glowing orange-red.

Just a few minutes later the glow was gone.  I turned and looked toward the west in time to see the sun disappear, giving me a quick silhouette of Turret Arch to photograph.  Magnificent!

I barely scratched the surface of all there is to see in Arches National Park.  The road goes on for miles past several more arches, and there are trails to many more.  I've learned from experience that this is one place where early or late light is the only way to go for most images.

Yellowstone in Storm Light

This is the year for nearly continuous storms in our part of the country.  When we visit Yellowstone, we prefer to take photos in great light, but we certainly aren't going to put the cameras away if the weather doesn't cooperate.  So, what can be done to get decent photos in storm light?

One option is to use the storm clouds as part of the composition.  Here at the Upper Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs I think the storm complements the steam.


                               



Images with a more graphic composition may work better if the sky is excluded.  This tree at the Upper Terrace seems more dramatic with the subdued folds of black hills in the background.

Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone are normally shown with gorgeous yellow color in the canyon walls.  But, we were there in light snow and bald skies which erased much of the dramatic color.  Without color, one approach is to try to capture the atmosperic conditions while retaining the sweep of the canyon walls and the falls.  To do this, one option is to minimize the uninteresting sky, showing just enough to retain the shape of the horizon.  That way, the light snow softens the mountain and trees in the background so the viewer can understand the stormy conditions.