Tower of Babel and Starry Night, Arches National Park, Utah, Photo

Tower of Babel and Starry Night, Arches National Park, Utah, Natural History Photography Blog

Tower of Babel and Starry Night, Arches National Park, Utah

Filed under: Arches, Astrophotography and Night Scapes, Utah on 9/27/2012

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!