Double Arch at Night, Arches National Park, Utah. October 3, 2014.

It was hard to pick my favorite photo for October 3, with so many to choose from. I finally decided on this photo of Double Arch at night. It was a splendid evening and photographers were everywhere taking long exposures of the night sky and the arches.

Moon Over Balanced Rock, Arches National Park, Utah. Oct. 3, 2014.

A close second to my favorite photo is this photo of the moon and Balanced Rock in the moonlight. Thanks to the “Purkinje effect”, these rocks looked dark and gray to our unaided eyes, but the camera could record the colors our eyes could no longer see in the dim light.

Double Arch at Night, Arches National Park, Utah. Two female photographers from Australia in lawn chairs. October 3, 2014. October 3, 2014.

As my brother-in-law and I walked toward Double Arch we saw two red light glowing in the dark. I said the red lights were the eyes of some strange monster ready to eat us. Or maybe they were the lights on the back of two cameras. I set up my camera and a long exposure revealed what our unaided eyes could not see in the dark, the two photographers in lawn chairs. We walked up and chatted. They are two women from Australia who were taking 60 minute exposures of star trails over the arches. Their husbands aren’t interested in landscape photography, so these two women left their husbands at home and launched out on a six week long photographic tour of the classic landscapes of the United States.

Mt. Sneffels and the Sneffels Range by Moonlight. October 3, 2014.

Much earlier on the same day (and some time after midnight) we were photographing the Sneffels Range by moonlight from Colorado 62 west of Ridgway Colorado.

The Sneffels Range. October 3, 2014.

Several hours later from County Road 7 (about 7 miles south of Colorado 62), we were shooting the Sneffels Range again before heading to Utah.

Team Red White and Blue west of Ridgway Colorado. October 3, 2014.

Back on Colorado 62 and ready to head west for Utah, we met a team of runners who were taking turns running an American Flag across the United States.

Sneffels Range from the Dallas Divide. October 3, 2014.

And a few miles up the road we were photographing the Sneffels Range from Dallas Divide.

Fence, Sneffels Range, San Juan Mountains, Colorado. October 3, 2014.

We also photographed Mount Sneffels and this famous fence near Last Dollar Road.

From just after midnight in Colorado to night fall in Utah the same day, this may have been the the best 24 hours of landscape photography in my life.

Mt. Sneffels at Sunrise. October 3, 2002.

But that is not all. 12 years earlier on the same date I was photographing Mount Sneffels after a snow storm. October 3 (and the whole first week in October) is just a great time to be in southwest Colorado or southern Utah.

Links

Series: Favorite Photos by Date

The “Purkinje Effect”: Colors Your Eyes Can’t See – But Your Camera Can