Sunday Apr 19, 2009 at 22:42

Arches, Day 2

Day 2 at Arches National Park was somewhat more successful than Day 1. We started out at The Organ near Park Avenue – partly because its location makes it about the closest (and therefore sleep-maximizing) world-class shooting location to Moab for a dawn shoot. The sun took a while to struggle clear of some remant clouds from the passing storm system, but eventually broke through. Before long, every last cloud had dissipated – sadly.

We moved on next to Double Arch in the Windows section of the park. The sun was not yet fully on the arch (all the better), just catching the top. Some fresh growth on the desert plants provided some decent foreground material.

On next to Landscape Arch, where we had the pleasure of speaking awhile with Oregon photographer, Jim Altengarten of Exposure 36, who very kindly reminded me of a very useful function on the D700 – the ability to assign the viewfinder Virtual Horizon to a function button (or as I chose, the AE/AF-L button). The Virtual Horizon is basically an electronic spirit level that can be used to make sure the camera is properly aligned – harder than you’d think to do by eye alone. Since programming it in there and then when Jim told me, I’ve been using it all weekend – so thanks!

The main excursion of the day was another of the great photographic rituals of the Southwest – sunset at Delicate Arch. I had not been there before, although we did walk up to Delicate Arch Viewpoint last year.

Delicate Arch is truly an icon of the Southwest and Utah. After the Maroon Bells, it appears also to be one of the most popular photography spots in the region. There must have been around 50 photographers present for sunset. I took 78 exposures, and I reckon that was below average. (The gentleman next to me was bracketing seven exposures at 9fps on his D3.) That means there are likely at least 4,000 images of this particular sunset at Delicate Arch out there somewhere…

As you can see above, the sun did come through. The image above is from the final sixty second burst of light before the sun finally dropped below the horizon.

Posted in Locations

Stephen · Sunday, April 19, 2009, 22:42 · Permalink

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