The Windows District of Arches National Park is a fairy world of rock. The park, as a whole, contains the largest concentration of rock arches in the world, and those of the Windows District are as incredible as any to be found. In exploring various angles and perspectives recently we came upon an opening in the massive Entrada Sandstone formations which may at one time been an arch itself, but is now a long, rounded outcrop, open to the sky and offering an amazing view northwest toward the Garden of Eden and Balanced Rock tiny in the distance. As we watched the light slowly fade, it began to highlight the various formations in intense tones of warmth, but at the same time it cast a rim light across the top of the outcrop at our feet. Using just the edge of the rock, where the highlight ran, as a floor, I framed the right edge of the image with the edge of the Entrada formation and placed the highlighted formations in the mid-ground so that the lighted tops were near to the right vertical third line. The dark gray clouds overhead were an interesting contrast to the still-whitish cumuli on the far horizon. A focal length of 20mm gave me the angle-of-view I wanted. An aperture of f/22 provided depth-of-field;and a shutter speed of 1/10th second at ISO 100 gave me an overall somewhat-darker-than-medium eposure. Fairyland at sunset is magic.
Spectacular!
I have toured the Arches before but never in late evening. I loved the contrast of light and dark. It gives these beautiful formations a whole new perspective. Amazing!
Hi Ron and Eleanor; thank you both for joining me for this Image. Ron, I very much appreciate your comment and its succinctness. In a single word you’ve managed to tell an entire story, because I know you would not say it if you did not mean it. I appreciate it. Eleanor, Arches during the daytime is more than amazing, as you well know; but at dusk it’s really magical. Daytime is like a song on the radio; at dusk there’s a symphony in a symphony hall.The only drawback is that dusk just doesn’t last long enough. Thanks for your kind words.
Don, thanks as always for a strong and intriguing image. I really like it. My only time in Arches was a frustratingly brief 4 hours a few years ago. Argh. But you’ve helped remedy that deficit a bit.
One comment on your compo here. While I very much like the vert thirds, esp the ‘stair step’ effect, the beautifully lit large rock on R feels abruptly cut off. My eye wants to follow the top edge of it farther. Feels incomplete to me. Now, I don’t know what lurks up there, and I know you never do anything by accident, but thought is mention it. Ray
Beautiful. Moody and majestic all at once. The composition is perfect. Congrats.
Hi Jessyca and Ray; thanks for joining us. It’s always good to hear from both of you. Jessyca, I really appreciate your choice of words and the kindness they carry. It is difficult to visit Arches and not feel that you are in the presence of majesty; and when the light begins to be haunting as it often does at dusk, then the moodiness really speaks. I’m glad you enjoyed this one. Ray, visiting Arches is like visiting any of the other amazing places you and I know. I hope that one day you are able to spend much time exploring its beauty, perhaps in conjunction with a visit to Manti-La Sal National Forest. I am so glad you brought forward your thoughts on the wall at the right. Actually that formation is the edge of the opening I mentioned and from there for a distance of, say, 150 yards, it is nothing but solid sandstone at a height of 40-50′. If I had included the top of it, it would have necessitated introducing much more sky, and I felt I had exactly enough of that with where I had concluded. I wanted to bring in enough of the wall to give a sense of its mass without allowing it to overwhelm the remainder of the scene. My thought was to draw attention to the top of the mid-ground formation with the light that was on it, and I felt that too much of the near-ground wall would distract from that. I really appreciate your asking about it because I feel it was a very important compositional consideration. Thank you both for your thoughtful contributions to our discussion.
Having been there myself I know how difficult it can be to capture the Arches beauty in a single shot. You did it beautifully! Wishing you and Bonnie a Peaceful December.
Don, thanks so much for explaining your logic. I knew there was a reason.
Ray
Hi Joani and Ray. Joani, thanks for joining us; and Ray, thanks for continuing the thread we began. Joani, as I recall, you were in Arches in the spring of 2014, around the time were we also there that year, maybe a little earlier. I know you had a wonderful experience and I really appreciate your kind comments here. I have thought your exact thought about capturing the area in a single image, and I’m not convinced yet that it’s possible. I think of Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch as iconic to Arches, but even they don’t seem to fully express the majesty of the place, which is why I, all the more, am grateful for your words. Ray, thanks for responding to my earlier comments. If we had stood in that place together discussing the scene before us, I think we would have reached the same conclusion, which is exactly why it’s sometimes difficult – and I find this to be so very true in my critiques of students’ work – to comment on perspective and magnification in work other than my own, even though the discussion generated is almost always meaningful. Thank you, both, again for being part of this conversation.