canyonlands national park Mesa Arch, Canyonlands Nat'l Park

Anyone who has been there knows how testy the photogs can get

jockeying for position. I have never seen photogs almost come to blows

the way I witnessed it here. Not wanting to demonstrate my pugilistic

skill, I waited for 10-15 minutes after first light, after some had

left, and slid in for the shot.

I've never photographed there, but I've heard the stories of competition for a view. (Reminds me of "tunnel view" in Yosemite, where the "good spot" is about 20 feet wide and about 2 feet tall... :-)

 

But I think your photo is actually quite effective and - better yet - somewhat different from the typical "yet another Mesa Arch photo." The choice of the squarish format is interesting, too.

 

For me, the arch itself in the upper part of the photo is not the most interesting thing in your composition. My eyes are first attracted to the receding distance and the towers in the upper left center of the frame, and then to the lovely light on the foreground rocks, and the diagonal they form - sort of cradling the more distant scene.

 

Frankly, the very intense color of the arch in the upper section of the frame may somewhat distract from the real subject of the image.

 

If this were my photo and I was playing around with the composition, there are a few things I might experiment with:

 

- Perhaps a bit less saturation on the arch? And maybe even a crop that diminishes its presence in the frame a bit?

 

- I might experiment with a different crop that takes just a bit off of the left side (maybe the dark portion of the rising foreground rock at far left) and a bit off the top, thus more clearly making the foreground rocks, the interesting and subtle light in the canyon, and the towers the main subjects.

 

Take care,

 

Dan

Andrew, this really is a beautiful image you have here. I like Dan's thoughtful comments too; I particularly agree with his crop suggestion and desaturate the arch a touch. The square format is wonderful too; I think too many photographers try and squeeze the whole thing in a landscape format. The eye, here, really follows the light out into the valley. I am sorry that you had sort of a weird experience here; I had a similar experience at Delicate Arch at sunset, and I just gave up and walked away. I was really treated horribly, as were several other photographers who were trying to set up. Consequently, I guess I now just sort of shy away from the 'iconic' locations anymore, and just look for beauty in the landscapes around me. Very nice work, my friend. A 6/6 anonymously. Cheers! Chris

Nice photo, beautiful light. Your photo has so much of the red glow a bit of detail is lost in the arch. I was there last august and much to my surprise we (me and my brother) were the only two for quite a while. We were there a bit after sunrise (our choice for that was Dead Horse Point overlook) but it was still beautiful with the glow of the arch. HDR might have helped to get some detail in the far distance, one single exposure against the sun is always very difficult. You might enjoy my version.

Thanks for the criticisms. I agree. I think it would look better if I had taken some off the top and looked more rightward. The square format is from my Hasselblad. I shot it with Velvia film. It's a full frame image. The orange is really how it looked. I couldn't believe it. We went to Delicate Arch for sunset the next day. It was a scene. There must have been 150 people sitting around. Probably about 100 tripods. No tempers flaring though.