Duplo's blog

Hi All,

And welcome to another Duploworld update:)

Well the tittle kind of says it all, Utah was the destination, I have come to love this state.
It has mountains and some areas are almost as desolate as what we have where I live.
The upside, especially in August is some very pleasant temperatures in the high +90F range once you reach the desert:)

Well on this trip I flew in to Denver CO where I met up with a very good friend of mine.
B had driven his truck all the way from Baltimore just for us to have the chance to hang out and have fun.
From Denver we followed the Colorado River west and then South.

Highway 128

The trip from Denver and until we hit Highway 128 was great, but Hwy 128 was where we truly started to feel at home, we made numerous stops on the way, such as the one depicted above, but also got a chance to stop by the Old Dewey Bridge
Anyway Hwy 128 took as all the way to Moab and well it is no surprise that Moad is located right south of one of the many scenic National Parks in Utah.
Sunflower

A thing that surprised me the amount of flowers we saw along the way, the sunflower above was one of many we drove past and I guess there is little surprise in the fact that I had to grab a shot of it:)

Delicate Arch

The image above, while I guess a standard shot, spells out where we spend most of our time - "Arches National Park"
The image is from our first evening outing, after having spend a day scouting around Delicate Arch and Skyline Arch, we decided that weather looked about right for a good sunset outing near Delicate Arch and why not grab the chance to catch our own versions of this classic and very beautifully located arch.
Only downside was the huge amount of people present there, but I managed a few without people spoiling my image and above is probably the best of them.

Skyline Arch

We hiked pretty much every every trail in the park, managed to do half a day worth of 4x4 off road fun and Arches is one photogenic National Park. The images presented in this post are shot in the golden hour around sunset or dusk, but the Park is actually quite amazing at any time a day or night.
There is one big downside to the place though. It is a park where the hiking opportunities are pedestrian at best, we did not manage to find a single trail that too even a small amount of effort to complete.
This becomes a downside as the park becomes rather crowded at all times a day, so if you are in for a silent walk in amazing nature this is just not the place to go. The nature is amazing but you will see plenty of other people no matter where you go.
Now the upside is that this park is nearly perfect if travelling with children, just remember to bring plenty of water as the desert is hot and dry, I consumed an average around 6-8 liters while outdoors and my body needed it.

Now as said we saw most of the park and pretty much all the arches in it and it was a real photographers paradise to hike and drive. B and I had plenty of time to both scout location and wait for the right moments.
The images below concluding this post is to me a perfect example of what preparation, timing and a touch of luck will do for you. There are plenty of additional images from the trip HERE and one of the really cool upsides to travel with a professional photo journalist is that this time around there are images with me in them:)

Skyline Arch at dusk


Thanks for reading, your compliments and patience with my irregular posting pattern:)
Do take care you all:)

Thomas