Canyonlands Mesa Arch

 In November of 2018, I attended a photo workshop with Alain and Natalie Briot based in Moab for imaging in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Eight years later, I am re-discovering some of the places we visited through the images I captured. Our group visited Mesa Arch at sunrise, and that was pretty, but it was also overrun by photographers. I wanted to come back at night, to see the stars and to see if perhaps the moon transit might help make an image through the arch.

I arrived at the arch shortly after midnight. With the moon not yet risen, it was dark. But with a decent headlamp, it's a short walk from the parking area. I hunkered down to wait for the moonrise, took some practice shots with and without headlamp assist, and settled on the Zeiss Milvus 15mm positioned close to the arch. The composition would require some image stitching because of how close I was, but given the fact that there was no wind to cause the scrub brush to move, and nothing moved those rocks, I could take long exposures and still maintain sharpness.

Eventually, someone else showed up for pretty much the same purpose as me, and I am glad he did. He turned out to be an actual rocket scientist, an engineer from JPL, who was on some much needed R&R after finally getting a break from the InSight mission, which had been launched in May and was scheduled to land on Mars later in the month. This was a cool way to pass the time. And we did. Eventually, as the horizon began to glow with the rising moon, I focused on getting my images. It was a night well spent awake.

The moon rose hazy, flooding the valley and even reaching the arch, the stars endless in silent applause. Titled Oculus Lapideus, Latin for "stone eye," this piece is part of our Landscape gallery.