Picture of the week

View to Turret Arch

A view of the Turret Arch as seen through the North Window.  Located in Arches National Park, this image was captured at sunrise when the light first strikes these rocks.  I got up at 4:30AM in order to drive into the park (all the camp sites were full of course), hike out and find the right position to be in for capturing this particular composition.  It is a good thing I got there early, as it turns out this image has become somewhat popular.  Not as bad as Mesa Arch, but shortly after scrambling up an ideal rock to stand on just big enough for myself and my tripod, I noticed a stream of about a half dozen photographers coming over the ridge who apparently had the same composition in mind.  I could have charged money for my tripod holes, as a lined formed up at the base of the rock, with all these photographers impatiently waiting for me to get my shot and vacate the rock.  With some low morning clouds I was a bit worried at first that the good light would not show itself, so I stayed put.  But in the end, it worked out as shown by the image above.  As I departed, I also captured an image of this line as shown here on the right.

Although this image of Turret Arch through the North Window is a classic and appealing to me; After being in more remote places the previous week, immersing myself into national park locations like this with a large influx of photographers, the experience was less satisfying.  I guess you could say that this image and many others at the various national parks have reached "cliche" status.  All the more reason to focus in the future on more remote and unique compositions not within convenient reach of a tour van; Where part of the fun is capturing something unique and not so easy.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2014.  Last updated: 5/25/2014   ()