An Arches Windows Sunset

A few weeks ago, I spent a few days in the Moab area with some photographer friends photographing in Arches, Canyonlands and other associated areas. The day I arrived here driving from Fruita (see here for some pictures from Colorado National Monument) and spending a few hours trying to fix my bike's frame at Moab cyclery (they carried the part (a derailleur dropout for my Santa Cruz bike) that I tore apart in the Fruita mud and were very helpful in fixing the problem), I decided to hit Arches for sunset as I hadn't been able to hook up with anybody yet. The area had just seen some snow a few days ago I think and sunset was great. Below are a few of my favorite pictures from that evening.

This is North Window Arch as seen from the "window well".

Balance. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 16mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 100. Handheld.

North window from a different angle

I see you! Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8.0, 1/60s, ISO 100. Handheld.

The shadow cast by Turret Arch on the South Window really looks like a mountain lion head here.

Mountain Lion. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 16mm, f/8.0, 1/10s, ISO 100. Tripod.

I found this awesome puddle on the far end of Turret Arch that nicely reflected the turret's eye. The water was frozen over in a very thin and very reflective sheet of ice and its shape appears to mirror the Turret. The camera is probably not more than 6 inches from the water (the puddle was tiny) so I had to stop this all the way down.

Seeing Double. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 17mm, f/22, 1s, ISO 100. Tripod.

This is another image from Turret arch seen from the back. The sun had just gone below the horizon but is still glowing warm. You can see the La Sal mountains to the right and a hint of North Window through the arch. I like the leading line leading up to the arch.

Happiness is a warm turret. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 17mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 100. Tripod.

I captured this long view looking towards the La Sal mountains. There was some nice pink in the sky and the snow-capped mountains looked nicely blue. A nice color harmony that begged exploitation.

Jaws. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Nikon 70-200mm f/4 at 135mm, f/5.6, 1/10s, ISO 100. Tripod.

Walking back up to the North window, I thought I was more or less done and would head back to town to meet up with my friends, but I was struck by the sunset behind the Turret. So I took out the gear again and shot this image looking west.

Glow. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 32mm, f/5.6, 1/30s, ISO 100. Handheld.

I'll let this speak for itself.

Moon Cradle. Buy a print.
Nikon D600. Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 24mm, f/5.6, 1/13s, ISO 400. Handheld.

Last but not least, Also check out the galleries on the social sites:
Gallery on smugmug. Gallery on flickr. Gallery on Facebook. Gallery on Google+.