Bright bands of Navajo Sandstone intercept the rising sun and the Colorado River assiduously gleams in the shadows of the canyon, from the vantage of Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah. Prior to this experience, I had visited Moab many times since the age of 16 but had somehow neglected to open the door to the possibility you see here. There was an atmosphere of hushed anticipation amongst the population of photographers gathered for the morning show, and then the light crept into the clouds and naught could be heard but breathing and clicking of shutters. The quality of the light changed so quickly that I was torn between just wanting to relax and soak it all in and wanting to photograph it to the best of my abilities. Tis a common conundrum for me.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer! My only gripe so far is that the apple varieties I planted this spring for making hard cider appear to have contracted some sort of withering disease and it is unclear whether they will survive. There are some very suspicious looking, fat, emerald, metallic-looking beetles that have been unfortunately ubiquitous this year, and I wonder if they have anything to do with it. Beetles often carry infectious fungi around with them just for kicks. I bought these varieties specifically for their fermentation flavors and it would be a pity if they died before my aspirations could even be tested.

Tags:   Canyonlands Canyonlands National Park Colorado Plateau Dead Horse Point Dead Horse Point State Park Landscape National Park U.S. National Park Utah autumn clouds dawn desert magic hour morning morning light red rock red rock country red rocks sandstone sunrise Moab United States US

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The light of the Milky Way burns brightly over Ruby Mountain and the Arkansas Headwaters, near Salida, Colorado. The side of the mountain facing me is illuminated by a single porch light from a farm house in the meadow near the Arkansas River. In the center of the image, the warm glow on the horizon is the light from Colorado Springs, some 80 miles away from where I sat near the embers of a campfire.

Inspired by a certain photographer from Wigan, I wanted to take a trip through the archives and see what I might find that might be improved upon compared to my original attempt. As such, this is the first time I have posted the same source image twice, with the only difference being the passage of time and the processing applied.

Technical notes: 5-shot stitch of source photos pre-processed in Lightroom, then after stitching, brought into Photoshop to separately develop the sky and foreground. Each of the source photos was a single exposure.

Tags:   Arkansas Headwaters Colorado Landscape Milky Way Ruby Mountain dark skies galaxy long exposure night nightscape nocturnal panorama stars wide-angle Buena Vista United States of America

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As the fire burned down and darkness enveloped, the arc of the galaxy stretched itself assuredly over the top of a small ridge, Arkansas River Headwaters, Colorado. A lone porch light from a distant house illuminates the side of the foreground rock formation.

I was digging around in various directories looking for some calendar content, and I realized that there were some night photographs from over 2 years ago that I had never really processed properly. Hope you like it, as I enjoyed the process of discovery in the archives.

Explored 2017-09-08

Tags:   Arkansas River Colorado Milky Way Ruby Mountain camping dark skies galaxy long exposure new moon night nightscape nocturnal stars Buena Vista United States US

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The Full Cold Moon arcs toward the horizon over the Longs Peak massif (14,259 ft; 4,346 m) in the gathering light of a winter dawn, taken near Lyons, Colorado. Moonlight gleams on the icy surface of McCall Reservoir and brings the eye to a silhouetted flock of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis), huddled and squawking about it as temperatures finally began to warm a little.

Tags:   Belt of Venus Cold Moon Colorado Colorado Rockies Front Range Full Cold Moon Landscape Longs Peak Mount Lady Washington Mount Meeker National Park Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountains Southern Rockies U.S. National Park Winter alpine clouds cold dawn full moon high country high elevation moon moonset morning morning light mountains pre-dawn snow snowscape Longmont United States

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The rich, low light of sunrise touches the tops of cliffs above the White Rim, with part of the Henry Mountains visible in the distance, from Grandview Point, Canyonlands National Park, Utah. The sunrise was so colorful, I actually had to reduce saturation of the oranges and yellows a bit.

Happy New Year everyone, and thanks for all of your comments and visits this past year!

Explored 2017-01-02

Tags:   Canyonlands Canyonlands National Park Colorado Plateau Grandview Point Henry Mountains Island in the Sky Landscape National Park U.S. National Park Utah Winter crepuscular crepuscular light dawn desert desert snow magic hour red rock country red rocks snow snowscape sunrise

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