Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, UT
Last week was a teaching week, as I bounced all over the country filming training DVDs and presenting my From Focused to Finished seminar. This week was a shooting week. And we did a LOT of shooting. On Wednesday, Karen and I both flew back to Grand Junction, CO, where the bus was parked. From there we immediately hit the road. Destination: Moab (again). Our time around Moab was cut short a few weeks ago, so we wanted to return and focus on Arches National Park.
This is an 11-shot pano that includes the North and South Window Arches and a mini rainbow (Click to see big.)
We stayed at Archview RV park, which was pretty convenient to both Arches and downtown Moab. The first shooting day started a little late because of bad weather (and bad light), but once it started, it was excellent! We hiked to Delicate Arch, the iconic Utah symbol (It's even pictured on the license plates). The hike is about 1.5 miles each way, and it can get a little strenuous at times, but it's completely worth it. The arch and the surrounding area is completely breathtaking. We stayed there a good two hours to shoot sunset. (And if you're a photographer bound for Moab, Delicate Arch is THE sunset spot.)
A shot through the North Window, in Arches.
In the following days we explored a lot more of Arches. Some areas required a hike, while some were accessible right from the parking lots. We spent a good amount of time in the Windows section, where there are a handful of arches in one place, all at different angles so there was a lot of photographic exploration to do. We discovered that this is an excellent place for sunset. Just before the sun hits the horizon, these arches and formations light up in the most beautiful colors. It's really short-lived though, because after five minutes the light is dead again and it's time to move on.
Shot through Turrett Arch, in late afternoon.
The Devil's Garden section, at the back end of the park, was a lot of fun. There's a lot to see and shoot in a small area. The positive to that is that you can get a lot of variety in one afternoon. The negative is that there are a lot of tourists in this section, probably because it's one of the easiest hikes in the park. Landscape Arch is worth dealing with the masses though. It's a massive ribbon of rock, longer than a football field in length (which sports fans tell me is pretty long).
We tried to shoot a good amount of car streaks after sunset in Arches. This was the result of one.
We also spent a bit of time in downtown Moab, though the restaurants' schedules were a little frustrating for us. Some were only open for breakfast, and some only for dinner. One recommendation for breakfast would be the Jailhouse Cafe. We went there a few times and totally loved it. (In fact, we may head back again tomorrow!)
Shadow of tree where we stopped to have a picnic near the Devil's Garden area.
A shot near the Devil's Garden area (I had a tree fixation that day!)
There's one more thing worth mentioning in this post, though it had nothing to do with Moab. I recently switched out the Epson 3880 printer I had on the bus for the new and smaller R3000 printer. We've love it so far, and the only thing missing was the custom cover like the one on the last printer. To my knowledge, there aren't any companies making covers for this printer, so we had to pull out the big guns… Grandma. Yup, Karen's grandma is nearing 90 but still works a sewing machine as if she were still working for the clothing design business she did all her life. Now we have a nice custom cover, just as good (if not better) than anything you'd get in a store.
Our custom printer cover came with it's own custom tag.