Colorado and Utah Trip - Canyonlands

jamesl

Hi All,

I'm finally approaching the end of processing my pictures from my recent Colorado and Utah trip. Phew! It's been a huge load of work getting them done, but worth it for me. I wanted to share a few pictures from Canyonlands, where I only spent a little bit of time. While shooting Mesa Arch, I ran into Andy, Greaper, and a few other dgrinners whose names I can't remember (sorry!).


"Island in the Sky" - 40 minutes of 4 minute exposures. Canon 30D and Canon 20mm lens. I wish I had left this one run longer, but I chickened out. I couldn't sit out on the vast edge of that nothingness in the complete dark, so I left my camera and went back to my car. I then couldn't sit very long with my camera sitting out on the edge of vast nothingness by itself, so I had to go back and get it! :rofl


"Mesa Arch Pre-Dawn" - Canon 30D with Canon 28-135 IS lens. 3 shots bracketted -1/0/+1 and merged in Photomatix. This was captured about 20 minutes before the sun actually came up.


"Wide Angle View" - 7 shot pano with each shot bracketted -1/0/+1 and merged in Photomatix. Pano stitched using Panorama Factory. This arch looks quite big, but it is really very small. There were 10 or so of us packed right in front of the arch, with probably another 20 or so around behind us.


"Sunrise Over Mesa Arch" - Canon 30D and Canon 28-135 lens. 7 shot pano with each frame bracketted -1/0/+1 and merged in Photomatix. Pano stitched in Panorama Factory.


"Top of the Arch" - Canon 30D with Canon 28-135 IS lens. 3 shots bracketted -1/0/+1 and merged in Photomatix. This was probably my favorite of the whole set. Most everyone had left by the point I shot this last one.


"Mesa Arch Infrared" - Canon 10D IR modified with Canon 20mm lens. 8 shot pano stitched using Panorama Factory. I shot this as an afterthought as I was getting packed up, and I think it actually came out pretty good. I also met a neat older gentleman who showed up, and he and I talked shop about photography for 30 minutes or so.

Thanks for looking! Bear with me, as there is only one more set coming finally. :clap

James

David_S85

Beautiful set, James. Can't wait to see the final group.

Tango

i know what you mean about being out there...
it like one small noise puts me into karate kid mode...hahaha

anyway, your last IR i really enjoyed, great series.

wfeller

Gorgeous work.

schmoo

AaronNelson wrote:

i know what you mean about being out there...
it like one small noise puts me into karate kid mode...hahaha

Beautiful collection of photos and I'm sorry I wasn't one of the ones to run into you! I still have not seen Mesa Arch... yet. Ah, well next time.

jamesl

David_S85 wrote:

Beautiful set, James. Can't wait to see the final group.

Thanks David! I appreciate it. The last set is just pics that I took while travelling to and fro around Colorado, but there were some amazing things to be seen.

James

jamesl

AaronNelson wrote:

i know what you mean about being out there...
it like one small noise puts me into karate kid mode...hahaha

anyway, your last IR i really enjoyed, great series.

Ha ha! I probably would have been putting the smack down on a rock or something given how dark it was.

Thanks Aaron!

James

jamesl

wfeller wrote:

Gorgeous work.

Thanks! Appreciate you having a look.

James

jamesl

schmoo wrote:

Beautiful collection of photos and I'm sorry I wasn't one of the ones to run into you! I still have not seen Mesa Arch... yet. Ah, well next time.

Yeah, I was hoping to run into you too. :cry Well, if only to have gotten my smugmug strap! Ha ha. I probably won't be doing the Arcadia trip, so I guess you are going to have to head out to Texas next spring for some lightning shooting.

James

jdryan3

Very nice Jim. I like the snow capped mountains in the background of your star trails shot. I know F4 made 3 trips to Canyonlands and barely touched it (we went mainly to the Needles District). You could easily spend a week there and still not cover it all. Definitely on my list of places to go back to.

jamesl

jdryan3 wrote:

Very nice Jim. I like the snow capped mountains in the background of your star trails shot. I know F4 made 3 trips to Canyonlands and barely touched it (we went mainly to the Needles District). You could easily spend a week there and still not cover it all. Definitely on my list of places to go back to.

Thank you! I really spent most of my time in Arches, and barely scratched Canyonlands at all. I could probably spend a few years up in that area and not scratch it.

James

work2fish

Great photos, my favs are "Sunrise Over Mesa Arch" and "Top of the Arch". Thanks for providing the details of the processing and exposure.

grimace

Beautiful work again James. Thanks again for making some room for me on this shot!!

jamesl

work2fish wrote:

Great photos, my favs are "Sunrise Over Mesa Arch" and "Top of the Arch". Thanks for providing the details of the processing and exposure.

You are very welcome. Thanks for stopping in to have a look.

James

jamesl

grimace wrote:

Beautiful work again James. Thanks again for making some room for me on this shot!!

Ha ha, no problem. Thanks for letting me know there was going to be a shoot at the Arch!

coscorrosa

Awesome set of a classic subject. The second is probably my favorite.

jamesl

coscorrosa wrote:

Awesome set of a classic subject. The second is probably my favorite.

Thank you! It was amazing how the coming sun (this was probably 30 minutes before sunrise) really lit up the arch in a long exposure.

James