When I got to the parking area at the trail-head, the lot was
already full of cars. I guess other
folks had heard about it too! It was a
short 15 minute walk to the arch and when I arrived, there were already a bunch
of photographers that had staked out their claims with their tripods. After asking, I was able to squeeze in
between two of them to get my shots.
Unlike Delicate Arch, there wasn’t going to be any moving around for
different angles. Mesa Arch is also a
lot smaller. As a matter of fact all of the photographers were planted right up
next to it, so close you could touch it.
This was so they could get the angle of the sun coming up. As the morning got brighter the under side of the arch began to glow with the warm reflection of the daylight.
I put on my wide 10-22mm lens and hoped for the best. Luckily, I was able to get most of the entire
arch in the shot. Some latecomers
weren’t so lucky. One suggested, “Hey
guys, if we all back up 10 feet we can all get the shot and get the whole
arch.”
The guy next to me said, “You’re high, Dude! We ain’t moving.” These guys were hardcore. He showed the guy that made the suggestion
that he was able to get the whole thing in his viewfinder and suggested to the
fellow that next time he may want to come with the right gear. Ouch.
Another guy toward the back was setting off his flash and
quickly got scolded, “Hey, quit with the flashes! Some of us are doing time-lapse, Dude!”
“Dude” seemed to be the proper way of addressing someone
during this outing.
Anyway, as they counted down the minutes to the sunrise
another latecomer decided he could plant his tripod right next to mine. His camera was about 2 inches away and it was
difficult for me to even adjust the controls on my own camera. I was also worried that with all his futzing
around so close to me, he would knock my camera and tripod over the edge and
into the abyss on the other side of the arch.
He was Asian and did not seem to be able to speak English, so I just
gave him a dirty look. I took some pre
dawn shots then switched to a brand new card (with some difficulty because of
the cramped space) since the one I was using was getting close to full.
The sun came up. We
all got our shots… Then I ran into a bit of trouble.
My camera was stuck in a “busy” mode. Kind of like when it’s processing an image by
adding noise reduction, but it wouldn’t stop.
I tried shutting the camera off, but to no avail. The camera was still stuck in its processing
mode. Could the brand new card be
faulty? I was at my wit’s end. I asked the crowd if they had any
suggestions. The only thing to do seemed
to be to eject the card or the battery.
Either option could corrupt the data on the card, losing all the
shots. It was finally decided after
about 5 more minutes that popping out the battery would be the lesser of two
evils. I took the camera off the tripod,
clicked the lid open, and just before I hit eject, the camera ended its busy
mode and was once again working.
Relieved, that all was well, after checking the pictures, I
took a few shots hand held and then went to put my camera back on the
tripod. The Asian guy that had been
invading my personal space had moved my tripod!
“Not cool, DUDE!” I exclaimed.
I got a “So sorry” in response. The sun was getting higher the moment had
passed. At least I got my sunrise
shot. I took some shots of the thinning
crowd and then headed back to camp, where I packed up and started the long
drive back toward the Vegas airport where I would be flying out of the
following day.
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