As much as I am deeply drawn to the sunrises in the East, I am perhaps even more attracted to the drama created by the solar disk as it appears above western horizons, and sometimes even when it doesn’t appear at all, but merely sends its reflected light to bounce of the Red Rock. No matter how many times I make that quarter mile walk from the parking lot to the sandstone arc of Mesa Arch, it is a sight of which I never grow weary. Sadly, it has become such that it is, for all practical purposes, impossible to re-create this scene. Mesa Arch has become a world attraction such that every day scores, if not hundreds, of visitors make the walk to see the light bounce off the underside of the fabled sandstone as the canyonlands light up from below.
A focal length of 225mm gave me the narrowed angle-of-view I wanted to isolate the extremes of the arch as it merged with the parental stone. An aperture of f/11 provided depth-of-field, but also took into account that the background buttes and mesas would be a bit soft as the depth trailed off in their direction. The arch itself was my primary concern. This aperture setting also allowed for a shutter speed of 1/15th second at ISO 100 which was fast enough to prevent motion in the foliage created by the warming desert air.
As special as Utah’s Big Five National Parks are to me, they have become so heavily visited it is not difficult to consider them almost as sacrifice zones that draw the crowds so that the lesser and more-difficult-to-access beauties can remain more or less pristine. And if we do not learn to visit with respect, we will, sad-to-say, love the Red Rock to death. It isn’t about gloom-and doom, it’s just a recognition of what is: Abbey reincarnated, if you will.
I love this catch. It lets me be silent and enjoy this snippet of the earth I likely will never see in person.
Hi Helen,
Thank you so much for joining me and for your kind and thoughtful words. What an absolute joy it is to stand in this place alone. The silence is like a symphony. I do sincerely hope you someday find yourself at Mesa Arch, but if you do not, I am grateful to have been able to share its Image with you. Walk in Beauty.
Something is wrong with this image. The top half of the image does not fit with the bottom half. The left edge of the stone tower on the top does not match the left edge on the bottom half and there is a blue background under the top half of the photo. Also the detail on the top half of the column is very different from the bottom half. I believe this image is two images edited into one image. Sorry to be a negative voice, but I must speak up to what I see. This is not the way it looks in real life. I’ve been there.
Hi Philip. Thank you very much for joining me. I don’t recall that in the thirteen years I have been posting the weekly Image for the Asking, you have ever offered a comment; so I hope you will forgive the somewhat brusque nature of my response. Were this Image anything other than what I have described, I would have told you up front. There is much that I do not have, but integrity I will claim in spades.
I have had the privilege of being at Mesa Arch perhaps a dozen times and I have walked on it, climbed on it, and studied its geology up closely and personally. On the back side of the arch, through its opening or over the top, the Island in the Sky drops off some 2000′, almost vertically. In other words, there’s not much directly behind it other than space and opportunity for several miles. There are four very distinct geological features – a spire and three monuments – in the far mid-ground before you see the far background, in its blue light and the features that are within it. The top of the nearest butte and the base of the butte to the left of it are truncated by the arch Not only do they not line up in the Image, they haven’t lined up for 70 million years as the “Island” has eroded away. These two features are easily a mile apart where they sit overlooking the Colorado River.
As you can see from the color underneath the arch, the sun is rising far to the right and thus the canyons behind the mid-ground features, i.e. the background, are not receiving direct sunlight, which is to say they are shaded. Shaded light has the character of having the warm wavelengths – yellow, red, orange – mostly filtered out and the remaining wavelengths are more toward the cool (blue) end of the spectrum. So shaded light tends to have a more bluish cast to it.
That should be enough of an explanation to clear up your observations. Perhaps you might wish to meet me there sometime and we can replicate the scene as it appears here, which I assure you is, very much, a single photograph. I do appreciate your observations. Stay well, be safe.
My apologies to Don, no offense was intended. It is a beautiful photograph. Yet I can’t get my head wrapped around the perspective. Regardless, I won’t argue your explanation. Most importantly, I do not want to make any accusations nor offend anyone, especially you. I am sorry.
Hi Philip,
I really appreciate your responding to my rant; but truth is, all any of us has in the material world is our integrity as a human being, and I try to guard mine assiduously.
I have encountered the opportunity to create the Image I shared on only one occasion in all of my visits to Mesa Arch; so it was not something I approached non-nonchalantly. Think of it this way: As I explained, once you get beyond the arch itself, the face of Island in the Sky is sheer for a thousand feet and then another thousand feet down between the bottom of the plateau and the river itself which is several (at least four and perhaps nearly five) miles away. The space is a gnarled land of eroded canyons and geological features as I have described. The butte seen underneath the arch and the butte seen over the top of the arch are very distinct features and completely separated within the vastness of the floodplain.
I completely get the difficulty in seeing the perspective of the Colorado Plateau. There are still places in it that make no sense to me at all; and I consider it second only to the Smokies in its sacredness to me. Just know that my descriptions of my work and process will be as accurate and straightforward as my understanding of the English language will allow. Please don’t wait so long to join us again. Walk in Beauty.
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing nature and National Parks with us! Can meditate just visiting your photography.
Merry Christmas and a Healthy Happy New Year.
Have you published a book of your photography?
Hey Joni. It’s great to hear from you! I hope you have been well. I am honored that you connect with my musings. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.
The short answer is that I’m going to be on the road for the next two years – or so – collecting images and doing interviews for a book on public lands. I hope to share my travels with a YouTube channel. Stay tuned!
Wow! An absolutely stunning photograph! Thank You!
Hey Michael. Thank you very much; I really appreciate your kind words. Walk in Beauty.
If only the Cloud Master had been with you to add soon Puffy White Beauties!
I can only wish that the Cloud Master had been with me. Next time, Cloud Master! I hope you and Ms Helen are safe and well. Talk soon.
Thanks, Everyone for joining me for this conversation. It is great to hear from ALL of you and to have your thoughts and observations. There is so much that can be said about the Colorado Plateau – its geologic and natural history, its amazing Beauty, its role in the history of the West, its people and their stories.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is an excellent conservation and preservation organization dedicated to the care and preservation of the Red Rock Country for the enjoyment of all of us. I strongly encourage you to learn of their work and to become involved with them to keep this common heritage available and safe for all of us. There are interests that would take these lands from the American people and make them unavailable to us. I pray this never happens. Walk in Beauty.
Thanks Don, I enjoy the pictures each week and always look forward to taking away some nugget of knowledge or inspiration. I hope we will be able to be together again for another Smokey Mountain photo program.
Hey Rex,
It’s great to hear from you! I hope you are well. I really appreciate your kind comment and hope that I can continue to be helpful to you on your photographic journey. Sadly, the folks at Lake Junaluska show no inclination of re-connecting with Road Scholar in the near future.
For the next two years, or so, I will be one the road living out of my Subaru Outback and working on a book about public lands, doing photography and interviews. As I travel I will offer to meet anyone anywhere they choose to do one-on-one coaching and teaching. Much of the time I will be west of the Mississippi and I will be vlogging my adventure as I go. So stay tuned, or even better, come join me in the Beauty of Nature.
This is an absolutely gorgeous image! It gives me goose bumps. And to Philip Roode, you wouldn’t have made that comment if you actually knew Don McGowan. But then again, I enjoyed reading the description he offered in response. The precision and the honesty and the joy Don conveys in an image creates a truly pleasurable experience.
Thank you, Don. We wish you and your loved ones the best of health, happiness, and natural beauty our world has to offer.
Hey Jeanne,
You are such a Dear! I wish for you and Tom exactly the same in this season of love and joy and all year ’round.
I’m not so sure that the day the camera and the computer became inextricably intertwined was not the darkest day for the camera in the 300 years of its existence; but I’ve long confessed to my Luddite tendencies.
May you both have a wonderful and creative 2022.
I am so glad to see the latest posting. This is so special mostly because it is so real. I could make a beautiful image at Disney World, but it would all be fantasy. I am looking forward to seeing your work on YouTube.
Thank you, Dear One. I hope your adventure in the Sunshine State is filled with joy and love and all the happiness time with family can and the season can offer.
You will be with me as I travel. Walk in Beauty.
I really enjoy your images from the southwest! This held an interesting surprise, the reflection of the sunlight on the underside of the arch. I had not considered this possibility. I really must get to more sunrises, and sunsets.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, Bonnie and your families.
Hi Sue,
I am so glad to hear from you. I really wish that our recent adventure had included the opportunity to take the walk to Meas Arch (So much Beauty; so little time). Truth is, this was such a rare opportunity that I hardly expect to ever see it again; however, if you can arrive early enough to be one of the first photographers to get to the arch, you can position yourself to do some very good work, just not of the wide-angle variety absent the crowd that will surely be there. Sharing has become the order of the day.
Sunrise is such a wonderful time that it’s worth getting up for, even when you don’t take out your camera; but there’s almost always something for which to take out your camera.
I hope you and Chris have a wonderful Christmas and the happiest of New Years. Beauty on every side; in Beauty may you walk.