Arches at Sunruse

On a road trip from New Mexico to Utah in June, 2011, we stopped for the night in Moab, UT.  We spent some time in Arches, which is about as close to photography heaven as you can get.  My brother-in-law and I got up early and went into the park to catch some sunrise shots. 

First Light

 Right Brain:  I never actually thought that this shot would work, because the light was so low.  We were walking on the trail to the back side of the two Window Arches, just as the sun was rising.  There was just enough light to make the silhouette work.

The Fire of Sunrise

 Right Brain:  There are few things more worth your time than getting up for a sunrise. Particularly if you like photography.  The rewards are the excellent colors.  I'm sure that there are those who would find many faults with the above picture, and they are probably right in several respects (you can't see enough of the foreground, the foreground isn't all that interesting, etc.)  However, I can't look at this picture without thinking of what a great way to start a day.  Perhaps I'm just a sucker for the cliche metaphor of sunrise, but I see a brilliant orange sunrise as a great reason to hope.

Early Morning on a Red Rock Trail

Left Brain:  What surprised me about this photo shoot is how quickly we can move from a high contrast photo, such as the above two shots, to this more muted shot which captures some of the early morning tones, simply by adjusting exposure parameters.  This shot was made within about 5 minutes of the first shot ("First Light"), and the sun was just starting to rise, hence the beginnings of the red-orange hues reflecting off the rock formations.  
 

North Window Arch at Sunrise

Right Brain:  Sunrise is in full swing here, and the deep orange colors are awesome!  The biggest problem here is convincing Darth Vader to get his shadow out of the shot...