About a month ago, I posted this image when I headed off to Moab. It was taken last year in April when my son and I drove cross-country to Oregon. I know that I have been posting a lot of images from my trip, which is quite unusual for me. I tend to vary my locations on the blog. Starting next week, I will resume that tradition. I wanted to post an image today to close out the Moab series, and decided to post a different composition to the one I posted before leaving on the trip.
The image in this post also brings back some great memories of shooting with old friends and meeting new ones. Our group stopped at Balanced Rock to work the scene. It was early evening, and the light and clouds were amazing. As we were finishing shooting, a few of us decided to wander in the field toward the Windows Area of Arches National Park. As we walked toward the distant rock formations and La Sal Mountains, two things happened. First, these lenticular clouds became more prominent in the sky. Their unique shapes really stood out agains the blue sky. The second thing that happened was that this huge group of clouds blocked the sun.
Even though we had plans to head to Delicate Arch later that evening, we all had the same thought: Let's ditch that plan and hang out on the ridge that we were standing on until the clouds blocking the sun cleared. Patience is not my strongest suit, but spending almost 45 minutes waiting for the sun to break through was instead quite enjoyable. We all talked photography, knowing that the scene would be worth it in the end.
Once the clouds cleared the sun, the rock formations were bathed in great light and shadows, with parts of them being quite bright and other parts being in shadow. The La Sal Mountains were lit perfectly and were as clear as I ever had seen them. Finally, those great lenticular clouds looked like some artist had painted them on the sky. All in all, a wonderful evening in the desert.