This is one of my favorites from my October Utah trip. I love the wide open land of the southwest and this image for me really shows off that space and feeling of openness. All the various little drainage lanes throughout work their way down and out and the warm light contrasts with the blueish tint of the areas to the left in shadow. A friend and I and the dog trekked out to this spot in the dark to set up for a sunrise that did not pop, but it was a peaceful and rewarding morning nonetheless.
Composition is endless in places like this. The soft light works out really well, Harley. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to see a glorious sunrise here.
Harley, the depth on this scene is unending. It’s nice to see such open views without ANY structures. The arroyos in the deserts provide some truly wonderful photo ops. No changes here for me…
This really does convey the feeling of openness and it is a wonderful scene. Just being there and enjoying a sunrise would be rewarding in itself. I like this very much, Harley.
My favorite part for sure. Atypical for me, I’d love to see golden-hour light streaming into this scene as much as the missed sunrise. That’s not to criticize this though; though soft lighting looks great here.
I lived in the Southwest (high mesa country of central Arizona) for many years and, Harley, it is such a pleasure to see an image like this. Too often we want to go for the “big, knock 'em dead” image with sensational light and all but this picture that you’ve made, is much more of what the Southwest meant and means to me, especially in winter time when the light is diffused and muted. It is a much more subtle beauty, which you don’t really come to appreciate until you’ve spent a lot of time there. Nicely seen and presented.
