Our first day photographing was a long one and a great one. I was up and at it at 5:25 AM – not my normal wake-up time by any stretch of the imagination! At 5:55 AM we piled aboard 2 vans and headed to the Moab Diner for brekie. The food was good, fast and plentiful. I know now what their portion sizes are like and will change my order accordingly tomorrow!
We headed out of town to Arches National Park, now open despite the US government shutdown. The state of Utah is paying operating costs out of its own budget. Thank goodness! The early morning was quite cool and I regretted not bringing the gloves I had packed. The view at the LaSal Mountains and Courthouse Towers Overlook was nice but the light was unspectacular and rather overcast. I was disappointed that we were going to have a cloudy day.
It brightened up nicely when we walked to the famous Landscape Arch, a photo used on many Moab and Utah publications. There were many photo opportunities along the trail but I didn’t want to tarry too long on the way to the main attraction. Landscape Arch is only 6 feet thick at its narrowest point. A chunk of it fell down a few years ago and it will all completely come crashing down one of these days.
We returned to town but first made a stop at the visitor center where we saw an interesting 15 minute movie on the park and the formation of the arches. After the film, I found some great views behind the building and I was happy to see the sun came out.
We dined together for lunch then went our separate ways. I picked up polarizer at a local camera shop downtown. I'm told it will have a good effect on my photos.
At 3:30 we headed out again, this time to the east. We stopped at a spot where the cottonwood trees were showing some fall color. In the background were the snow-capped LaSal mountains.
Then we stopped by the side of the road and photographed a nice band in the Colorado River.
The final stop of the day was the dramatic Fisher Towers. There were few tourists there, only hikers and rock climbers. We watched a young woman climb up one of the monoliths and photographed her as she made her way to the top.
It was sunset by then and the light was gorgeous.
When it got too dark to take any more pictures, we headed back to town and were given a bag lunch to eat in our rooms. That was fine with me as I was dead tired. My blog won't be posted tonight as I am beat and it is past my bedtime. 5:30 AM will be here before you know it!
