Arches, Natural History Photography Blog

Delicate Arch at Night, Milky Way and Stars Overhead. Arches National Park, Utah.

I spent a wonderful evening photographing Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. It was warm and dry, with a clear star-filled sky overhead and just a speck of breeze. I photographed Delicate Arch and the moon at sunset, then kicked back and ate my dinner while I waited for Milky Way to rise in the sky. Eventually the Earth rotated enough for the Milky Way to be centered through Delicate Arch, and I made this photograph, one of my personal favorites of 2012. Thanks for looking, and cheers!

Milky Way arches over Delicate Arch, as stars cover the night sky. Image ID: 27850   Location: Arches National Park, Utah, USA

Delicate Arch is found at the end of an easy 1.5 mile trail. 65-feet (20m) tall, this beautiful freestanding arch was once a “fin” of Entrada sandstone. Erosion and weathering eventually groomed the fin into its current arch shape, a natural visual frame for the La Sal mountains that lie to the southeast.

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This sandstone pillar in Arches National Park, which probably has an official name, looks to me like an enormous totem pole. I photographed it at night with a short enough exposure to freeze the stars but long enough that the quick moving clouds blurred across the sky. Lighting was tough on this one since the pillar was quite a distance away and very tall (hundreds of feet I estimate). The glow at lower left was produced by the nearby citizens of Moab, all tucked in bed while visions of mountain bikes danced in their heads. If you like this, please see more of my night astrophotography landscape photos. Cheers!

Stone columns rising in the night sky, milky way and stars and clouds filling the night sky overhead. Image ID: 27848   Location: Arches National Park, Utah, USA

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Balanced Rock at Night, Arches National Park

Balanced Rock rises 128′ (39m) above the surrounding land, just off the main road in Arches National Park. It is an outstanding example of erosion and sandstone layering. The precariously perched capstone rock is made of harder sandstone than the layers beneath. As the softer sandstone eroded, a neck formed in the column. Eventually the capstone will topple off and sightly Balanced Rock will be no more. Until that time, I will wander about it at night, pondering the heavens above, whistling strange tunes and conjuring the odd saying that only the lonely midnight desert wanderer is prone to utter.

Balanced Rock and Milky Way stars at night. Image ID: 27835   Location: Balanced Rock, Arches National Park, Utah, USA

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Stars over the Tower of Babel, Arches National Park, Utah

The Tower of Babel is one of the most imposing and distinctive sandstone structures in Arches National Park. An enormous narrow freestanding wall or “fin” of Entrada sandstone, the Tower of Babel may, over the course of eons, erode into a arch. It is very near the main road through Arches National Park so few photographers who visit the park do not at least take a snapshot of this icon. I allocated a few hours one night trying to figure out how to photograph it against a sea of stars. It is such a tall and long expanse of sandstone that I was not even sure I wanted to try it, assuming there is no way I could effectively light paint the beast in the 30 seconds of exposure I was using. It took me some time but, after trying a number of different lighting angles and even resorting to mixing my own car’s headlights and those of another passing vehicle in some experimental images, I managed to produce this one image. Thanks for looking!

Stars over the Tower of Babel, starry night, Arches National Park, Utah. Image ID: 27847   Location: Arches National Park, Utah, USA

See more dramatic and different photos of nighttime landscapes or of Arches National Park.

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Landscape Arch and Milky Way at Night, Arches National Park, Utah

Landscape Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, is considered to be the longest natural arch in the world, having a span of 290 feet (89m) . Landscape Arch is gradually falling apart, with at least three sections of the arch known to have fallen since 1991. I set out to photograph this amazing arch under the star-filled Utah sky and it turned out to be one of the most technically challenging nightscapes (nighttime landscape photos) I have made. Because the trail the formerly went under the arch is now closed (National Park lawyers know what is good for us better than we do), viewing of the arch is from several hundred feet away. That is a long distance to light at night. Furthermore, in order to use side lighting as a way of illustrating detail in the rock, I had to use remotely controlled equipment since I was working alone. After two nights of experimentation, I managed to make four keeper images, of which this is my favorite. This image was shot with the technically excellent combination of Canon 5D Mark III and Nikon 14-24 lens so it is very sharp and clean while still freezing the glorious Milky Way galaxy (the galaxy in which we live) in the sky above the arch. Thanks for looking!

Landscape Arch and Milky Way galaxy. Stars rise over Landscape arch at night, filling the Utah sky, while the arch is gently lit by a hiker’s light. Image ID: 27869   Location: Arches National Park, Utah, USA

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