Eye of Earth

3-16-14
Canyonlands National Park
Moab, UT

When we arrived at the Mesa Arch there were already a dozen or so other photographers there, all crowded around the mouth. I wanted to be able to take a picture from farther back, but they were there before me so I looked for as unique of a perspective as I could find, set up, then took pictures all morning. By the time I was done, I was sure Kevin had about as much as he could tolerate, being up before the sun, and Anthony was probably somewhat bored as well. So, they probably watched relieved as I packed up, finally. Little did they know, and even I did not think there was still one great picture left.

We drove through around the canyons and through the land, taking pictures here and there. I had fun pitching Kevin’s Outback through the corners, braking just hard enough before the turns to be able to apex and exit just before touching the divider. And each time I saw a scenic parking area I stopped to scope out the area, sometimes taking out the tripod, if I thought there was enough potential, to the disappointment of Kevin who probably has never been so bored in his life.

At one stop we found ourselves before an enormous cavity of earth, a humongous canyon so great that another cavern split the earth within it. The sun was directly ahead and hot, and there were no clouds in the sky, so I did not think that the product would be so picturesque, but since it was so grand and this might be the last time I would see it, I decided to take a panorama as I did at the Delicate Arch.

I did not know what magic was before me, but as fate guided me, I captured the great Eye rising from the Earth…

Like Enclave of the Arch, I originally took brackets of 7 shots every 15deg, but decided to not use an HDR treatment afterwards, and to depict the harsh dynamic range in black and white.

The final piece is 22,804px * 5,461px = 124.5 MP.

This piece is meant to be rotated 90deg clockwise when presented. Left horizontal to fit web formatting.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

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