Morning Glory at Mesa Arch

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park (Moab, UT)

Captured just outside of Moab, Utah in Canyonlands National Park, this image of Mesa Arch was taken in early March of 2010 nearing the Spring Equinox. What is unique about this image is that the sun will peer through this particular position of the arch for only a few weeks during the year in the early Spring and Fall. The morning of this shot, we set out at 5am to drive 45 minutes through the dark and snow in order to capture this image. As we drove, we felt that we were just going to be wasting our time due to the poor weather. We arrived at the arch and saw an opening in the clouds that gave us hope we might be able to see a sunrise. What we experienced was this beautiful scene that lasted for just a short moment. The weather for the duration of the day was filled with fog, rain and snow. To make this image stand out, I created a “star” effect in the camera at the time of capture in order to show the glory of Mesa Arch during the morning at this time of year. Please enjoy this moment for years to come!