Cloudy morning view, Washerwoman Arch, Utah

[Almazar80]

From the Mesa Arch overlook, you can see Washerwoman Arch on the distance. Canyonlands National Park in Utah - a great place to visit. Less than an hour away from Arches National Park.



Spent three different morning on subsequent days at Mesa Arch. Three beautifully different manifestations of morning light.

ADD:
Another take on this scene, in black and white



I could visit Utah every year. It really is quite beautiful.

[sury]

I love the "blues". Fantastic capture.

With best regards,
Sury

[Dr. Harout]

Nice scenery.

[David Kilpatrick]

Amazing light and colour!

David

[Birma]

Wow - lovely picture.

[stevecim]

I second Birma, WOW

[Greg Beetham]

With such a great scene I can forget the horizontal row of circles from whatever (dew or rain on the lens?), it's a magic mood shot for sure.
Greg

[Almazar80]

Thank you all for the comments. After looking at the Mesa Arch photographs that other people have taken, let alone the Windows 7 wallpaper, I had this picture on my mind of what the ideal Mesa Arch picture would look like. So for three days I drove from Moab to Canyonlands (Islands in the Sky section) to take my version of this photograph. There were different levels of cloudiness for the first two days - disappointing at first, until uncontrollable things such as sunlight coming through the clouds started happening. And as in life, the unplanned events makes it more interesting. Oh, and on the third day, Ian Plant was on the overlook, conducting a workshop with twenty or so people. Still, here is the picture that I imagined I would take of Mesa Arch:




Interestingly, there was a man from Russia that I met on the ledge for three straight days as well, also looking for that view of Mesa Arch. And a man from New Jersey as well. What we saw on that third day was picturesque. Beautiful, inspiring, and glad that the earth that we live in can be so beautiful.

[bakubo]

Nice photos! Thanks for posting. Utah is really an amazing place, isn't it?

With such a great scene I can forget the horizontal row of circles from whatever (dew or rain on the lens?), it's a magic mood shot for sure.

Greg, look again. Those "circles" are real and part of the scene! I had to look and look to see what you were talking about and finally I saw what you are seeing.

[Greg Beetham]

Omg Henry you’re right, I put my reading specs on and had a closer look, the two prominent ‘circles’ on the left are in fact land formations, my apologies Almazar80. Amazing colour in the last arch shot, great photo.
Greg

[Lonnie Utah]

Been there done that. Dave ran this shot in the magazine a few months back...



but I'll say that I like this image from the same spot much better.


The location I really want to get to in that same area is this one...


Edit: Is there snow on the La Sal's already??

[Almazar80]

Lonnie, the three days I spent at Mesa Arch was really an educational experience on how light interacts with the earh. I posted a black and white picture as an addendum to the original post. One can never get tired of studying and photographing the variations of light on such a beautiful land. You're lucky that you live in that part of the world.

My son took this picture of the Arch.



I hope that he continues to appreciate the beauty of the world around him.

[Lonnie Utah]

Lonnie, the three days I spent at Mesa Arch was really an educational experience on how light interacts with the earh. I posted a black and white picture as an addendum to the original post. One can never get tired of studying and photographing the variations of light on such a beautiful land. You're lucky that you live in that part of the world.

Yeah, I have never seen anywhere else where the interplay between light and the natural world changes so rapidly and where (from a photographic point of view) it can change from ho-hum to WOW (or vice versa) in an instant. I think it's how light reflects off the sandstone and how features can receive both direct and reflected light at the same time.

This shot from Zion National Park is an excellent example of what I'm talking about.



I waited in this spot for close to an hour to get this one shot. I woke up to an overcast day, and got shut out on the temple of the Virgin. So I drove up to the East plateau and waited. I could see the sun peaking thru the clouds and the spots of sunlight travel across the plateau. They kept going past me. Far off in the distance, I watched what looked like a promising beam coming my way. It lit the top of the mesa for just a few seconds (less than 30 second). In that time I was able to get a image that I'm really proud of. The direct light on the mesa is cool, but it you look, I'm getting reflected light from all around as well. It makes the shadows much less shadowy....