P 8/52 Sunrise at Mesa Arch, originally uploaded by CircadianReflections Photography.
Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac All Rights Reserved.
I had a blast hanging out with friends Alex, Theresa, and Dali in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks this past week-end.
The first two days were cloudy which put a cramp in our night imaging plans, but we made up for it with hiking and making images in the early morning hours and evening. We discovered new locations to shoot, and a new restaurant we like in Moab. Alex and Theresa loved the Peanut Butter Chocolate pie. I opted for wine instead so don’t know what it tastes like, but they swear it’s fantastic.
On Monday, Feb. 17th, the day we were heading home from Utah the weather was predicted to be in our favor so we rose at 4AM and left the hotel just after 5AM to get out to the Arch. The Meteorologist were right! The weather cooperated so we were able to get a wonderful shot of the sun rising in Mesa Arch.
We were the first group to arrive at the arch at 6AM, but we were followed shortly after by a group of 4 others, and from there on people kept arriving. All in all I think there were close to 30 of us by the time we left.
We drove to and from Utah taking turns driving. It took us 18 hours to get there, and 16 hours to get home. I’d do it again. 🙂
I had a great time, and am so grateful to have been able to make this trip. I’ve missed hanging out with my friends, but I am happy to be home with my Darling He-Man, and family. (feeling very blessed tonight lemmetellya!)
Nikon D700| AF Nikkor 16mm f2.8 Fisheye @ f16| 1/30s| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Matrix Met| Tripod
Circadianreflections Blog 
Wonderful capture! Wow what a long drive!
Thank you Geo! It was a Looong drive. 🙂
You nailed this one, Deborah. Great image. I am surprised that you didn’t get anyone else in the image since you were using such a wide angle lens and there were so many other people there.
Thank you so much Robert!
The perks of being first and a group of 4 we were able to set the line. 🙂 I did have a few tripod legs on the right side I needed to crop, and a on the lower left I had part of a man’s time-lapse rig in my frame that I had to crop. They were small crops on either side. I think we were very fortunate indeed!
Fantastic shot, we are going to head towards New Mexico on Saturday and hope the weather co-operates. Looking forward to seeing more of your images