Photos

With five National Parks and that many more National Monuments, southern Utah is a photographers paradise. The trouble is that it can be quite crowded at times. But if you aren't adverse to doing a little exploring you can find places of solitude.

The Red Cliffs Desert Reserve is one of these places. Three different ecosystems meet in this area- the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau and the Mojave Desert. As a result you find an ecologically rich diversity of plant and animal life here. The main purpose of the reserve is to protect the Desert Tortoise and they must be doing a terrific job. I have yet to see a single tortoise in the twenty years I've been exploring the area. But others swear they've seen them.

This arch is in the middle of the southeastern part of the reserve. It is actually only a couple of miles from I-15 with thousands of cars a day driving by on their way to or from Vegas. My son loves to explore new areas and so we visited the area the first of April. We were impressed by the twisting rock formations and the many arches and windows that were hidden here. This arch was the largest yet is only about 12 feet high and wide. Though found on maps of the area it is listed only as arch. We couldn't find a name anywhere and so the title of the photo.

When we first visited the area a couple of weeks ago it was mid-day with the arch being bathed in an unflattering light. We came back latter in the day on Saturday to get the color of an evening sun on the rock. Unfortunately, I wasn't taking into consideration the cliffs to the west of the arch, which puts it into shade late afternoon. So, this is an hdr type of photo- a composite of one shot at normal exposure, one exposed for the sky and sunlit rocks, and one for the shadows and the arch. As for the colors, they are pretty close to what it was, a polarizer deepening the sky and taking a lot of the glare off the rock in the background.