First Light At Mesa Arch

After a long night of shooting at a special location in the Canyonlands, I made my way to the parking lot of Mesa Arch. Finally getting everything organized, I fell asleep at 2 am in the back of the hot rod. I quickly realized that 5:15 am comes too early when falling asleep at that time. Before my alarm could go off, I heard a car door slam and noticed a shadowy figure peering in the window of my car. I sat still for a moment knowing they were just seeing if I had left for the arch yet. Once they peaced out, I tried to fall asleep but was quickly awoken by yet another person getting ready for sunrise shots. So, as quickly as I could, I jumped out of my sleeping bag and in about two minutes had all of my gear ready and was on my way to the arch.

Being one of the first on the scene, I set up for the traditional vantage and waited for the hoard of other photographers to come. And sure enough, they did. All in all, there were probably about 35 people here to shoot the arch. Luckily I'd visited here before with the wifey and had a much better experience.

What was amazing though was this particular sunrise. It started off terrific with great amount of mood and stellar morning colors in the clouds. However, those same low hanging clouds blocked any light from illuminating the underside of the arch. Once the sun made its way to a break in the clouds and allowed the first light to spilled over the La Sals, one of my favorite shots from this trip was created.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did taking it!

All images are ©copyright Jacob Lynn Routzahn. You may not replicate, use, manipulate, modify, print, or any other form of editing to my work without my permission. All rights reserved.