UTAH: Part 2 - Arches National Park

Thursday was Day 1 of sightseeing of our trip to the canyonlands of southern UTAH and northern AZ. We began the day in beautiful Arches National Park. Our first shoot was the sunrise at Turret arch. We entered the park in nearly complete darkness, with just a hint of morning light. We setup near North Window arch and shot back toward Turret arch and waited for it to be washed in the early morning light.

After the sunrise, we walked around the Window area photographing various things before driving to Delicate Arch to scout our sunset location. We made the short but steep (0.5) hike to the upper overlook across the canyon from Delicate Arch. Then it was back into Moab for lunch and a brief nap before heading back later that day for our sunset shoot.

We arrived at the trail head a couple of hours before sunset. We hiked the 1.5 mile trail which isn't too strenuous for folks that are in shape. But for us out of shape folks carrying gear, it took a little longer than we would have liked. But we persisted and arrived just in time to setup our gear and catch our breath before the last 30 minutes of golden sunlight painted the Delicate Arch and the distant peaks of the La Sal mountains in the distant background. Totally worth the effort to get there.

The video below captures a nice summary of the day.

UTAH: Getting There

Sandra and I finally are taking a real vacation! The destination is the canyon land of southern Utah and northern Arizona. Our plan is to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Bryce's Canyon, and Zion National Parks.

Our goal is to have fun and to learn more about photographing sunrise's and sunsets while enjoying the beautiful landscapes. So we've packed our cameras, gear, and computer. It should be great fun and you are welcome to follow along with us by checking this blog.

Wed. morning we flew direct from Nashville to Las Vegas. We chose to begin our journey in Moab, UT, near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. That way, we got the long drive part of the trip out of the way and will be working our way back toward Las Vegas over the next 11 days. The long drive to Moab was made better by the rugged and beautiful scenery. Here is short video shot through the windshield of our Jeep Patriot rental. The video has a music track so set your speaker volume the way you like it and enjoy!

I'll try to post regularly, but I'm not sure how much video I can upload. So far, my connection has been a little slow. The video upload ran all night. It's now Thursday morning and we are up early to catch the sunrise. More later.....

Emory Luke - 6 weeks old

Since the arrival of Emory Luke, I have been super busy! Not only is being a Grandpa pretty cool, but I've been busy working on some cool photography projects. I'm having a blast, but I have been falling behind on the blogging. So I'll attempt to get back on track with some of my latest adventures.

The photo above is one of my favorites from Emory's newborn session. In that photo, he was one day old. Recently Heather and Emory came for a visit and of course I shot more photos shown below. In these, Emory is 6 weeks old. Wow does time fly!

The weather has been remarkable warm for March, so we headed the lake to soak up some sun.

The breeze made things a little cooler than we would have preferred. Emory seemed content to simply lay in his blanket and snooze.

He did manage to open eyes just a bit.

Then I got this cute sleepy grin. But it didn't last. Emory wasted no time in resuming his Sunday afternoon nap. Yep, naps are good.

Say Hello to Emory Luke

Today Sandra and I became grand parents! Emory Luke was born at 6:13PM; weighed 8lbs 9oz; length 20.5 inches. Heather is doing remarkable well.