About the Image(s)

Taken with Canon 1DX - rented Sigma 20mm 1.4 DG HSM Art 015 lens, ISO 12800 - f2.5 - 15 seconds Tv

Delicate Arch is a 52-foot-tall freestanding natural arch located in Arches National Park near Moab Utah. The arch is the most widely recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and a postage stamp commemorating Utah’s centennial anniversary of admission to the union in 1896. The trail to see Delicate Arch up close and personal is 3 miles round trip and climbs roughly 500 feet and is steadily uphill trail. Park rangers suggest that tourists carefully consider the weather conditions i.e., summer heat or winter ice vis-a-vis their own health and fitness before beginning this hike. Rangers frequently rescue people who underestimated the trail's difficulty.

I’ve made the hike 5 times and I swear every-time I go it gets more difficult - I’ll be 80 in a few months and the last time I hiked the trail was two years ago and frankly it’s tough with 25 lbs. of camera gear and a tripod on your back. There is a stretch of the trail that’s about 200 meters from the arch that narrows to about the width of 1.5 people and is roughly 20 yards long with a 500 foot drop-off so one has to be careful especially on the way down after the sun sets - strong headlamp and a strong wide angle flashlight are highly recommended - each time I’ve gone, I’ve waited for another group to start heading down and I usually just follow them because it’s easy to get off the trail in the dark.

Unfortunately the park no longer allows light painting, although I don’t know how anyone would stop you unless it’s the group that are gathered at the top. When you’re near the arch you are actually in a bowl and more than once I’ve watched a camera bag or a tripod roll down into bowl and I have no idea how the photographers retrieved them. Arches is close to Moab and during the August - September the galactic core of the Milky Way rises shortly after it gets dark and is close to vertical so you can be back in bed in Moab long before midnight.