We had a lot of fun on the Saturday night of our NXNW trip to Moab. It started with us joining the melée of photographers waiting for sunset at Delicate Arch inside Arches National Park. There was a pretty serious hike up to the arch so imagine our surprise when we rounded the last corner of the trail to find somewhere around 200 photographers perched on the rock overlooking the arch. There was a great party atmosphere up there but it wasn’t at all what we had expected when we set off on the trek!
During the time we were up there, Justin (ever aware of what’s going on) bumped into the almost-legendary Dave Black. This was their second meeting in 2 days because Dave’s workshop group had been at Cisco the previous day too. They got talking and, since both groups had been planning to do some lightpainting up at the arch, he suggested we join his workshop group and shoot with them after the assembled masses had departed. This proved so much fun that we decided we needed to continue our lightpainting fix after Dave’s group had departed so we headed down to Double Arch, seen here, for another shot.
For the uninitiated, lightpainting involves shooting a dark scene which you light by sweeping handheld lights over it. In this case, Rick Louie had brought a large xenon flashlight and Chris Nitz acted as painter while we all shot the view.
All in all, then, a rather spectacular night – we got to make images of some wonderful scenes using a technique I hadn’t tried before and I also got to talk to one of my photography heroes. If you don’t know Dave’s work, take a look at his site – his sport photography is as good as it gets, and is frequently seen in Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Time, Newsweek and National Geographic to name just a few of his prestigious clients.
I’m getting all gushy and fanboy so let me move on and suggest you also take a look at the blogs of the other guys on our trip because I strongly suspect many of them will feature lightpainting images today too. You would almost think that Justin, Bob, Mike, Chris, Rick, Mark and I had planned this 🙂
Thanks, gents.
Rick, you know that composition here was pretty much hit-or-miss given that it was totally dark and you couldn’t see a darned thing through the viewfinder! 🙂
Rock solid! Pun intended. 🙂 Seriously though, this is amazing. Just saw Bob’s version as well–you guys seriously nailed this setup.
Amazing natural structure. There is a real sense of depth in this composition. I love the photograph, and the colours are great, the sky is perfect.
Love how you went darker on the processing. And the depth is great. Wonderful composition!
I think I need to go back.
[…] But we weren’t done. We said good-bye to Dave Black at the bottom of the trail back by the cars, but then our little group decided we needed even more cowbell, so we drove to the Double Arches in the same park. There we came upon yet another small group — I think it was a husband/wife team — already in place near the end of a very long exposure. I think they said it was 20 minutes, but maybe even 30, and our group nearly ruined it with our flashlights as we approached but we barely managed to avoid that catastrophe. We waited for them to finish, chatting and resting, and then tried to create more of our own magic. Unfortunately, my magic quotient for the day was full. My focus for the shots at the Double Arches was off. Way off. And while I can understand and excuse it due to it being pitch black and I was dead tired, it’s still a bit disappointing. But others got some great shots. Chris Nitz wielded our light source, which was supplied by Rick Louie. You can see shots from both Delicate Arch and the Double Arches From Bob Lussier and Michael Criswell. Justin also has a great shot of the Double Arch, as does Dave Wilson. […]
I’m with Bob. Seeing such great shots from the Double Arches — the one location where I blew it — just intensifies my desire to return. Great stuff. Amazing day.
This would be beautiful in daylight, but this concept is a quantum leap to something else. Spectacular.
Thanks Andy. Interestingly enough, we never actually saw these arches in the daylight!
Wow, I really love this one Dave. Rocks are so rich looking. I could enjoy this image all day long.
