Sharon and I are back in Moab at Red Cliff Lodge for the evening, haven been dropped off here by the Westwind after our TX Air2Air Workshop. We held five DLWS events in Moab, the very first, the very last and a couple in between. To say I’ve seen and photographed these red rocks a few times is an understatement. There are some that you can never tire of and there are others, well, when you have bald skies I would personally drive right past. But not was the case this past week. It seemed no matter the conditions the photo gods presented us, we made some great images. When you put dates on a calendar to venture somewhere a year in advance and that happens, I not only count my blessings, I look at why that came to be to see if it’s repeatable.
So Sharon & I spent a couple of hours at dinner last night trying to figure out just why this came to be. We did six shoots with the group and only one had great clouds. Great clouds can make road kill look fantastic as a landscape subject. So take that one out we had five with no clouds, just bald skies. Bald skies mean you can include it in the journey of bringing drama to your landscape. It also means the light itself will go hard quickly since there is not natural diffusion material. So that very first morning when we headed to Park Avenue, past shoots here in such conditions and the less then desirable results came to mind as I left the car. When I got back to the car, I had some marvelous clicks and along with the surprise of the success of the location, I was pretty happy.
Then that afternoon we took the group on a long walk. I really hate wasting time teaching by walking at a workshop. I know you can’t find every location next to the road but with a clock that never stops ticking, it is important. We walked anyways over to Broken Arch and then to Sand Dune Arch and were some amazing images were made. Joe did a lighting demo that was simply spectacular with a great final result.
I could go through the whole week and talk about each shoot like this. Each shoot had disaster written all over it, from the light to my initial attitude to photographing it because, I’ve done it before. Yet each shoot just kept getting better and better. Sharon and I pondered this over a couple of bottle of marvelous Castle Creek Merlot, marvelous food and talking with our favorite waitress Kasey. Then at dessert it finally came to me, the one variable that made each and every one of these shoots so amazing. It wasn’t the light, it wasn’t the location, it sure wasn’t the bald skies. Nope, what made each and every one of these shoots so fantastic were experiencing this all with friends! And I think it was more than just shooting with friends.
There is no doubt that my group of friends are just as immature and goofball as I am, which is why they are my friends. That in itself makes a difference but that doesn’t make the great images show up on the LCD. What I’m so fortunate to have experienced is being with a group of friends who not only make it fun, but make shooting and being successful, successful. The bouncing off of ideas, the challenge of producing better then the friend and of course, sharing with other friends those special finds that you simply want everyone to share in. That gorgeous photograph!
While it was my fifth time to be here in the land of red rocks, I feel I came back with some of my best images ever of locations I would, until this last week, would never visited again. I made images that I not only enjoy looking at for all those photographic reasons you might hear uttered at a crit. But all of these images have memories of making them beside my friends. That’s why this was the best ever time here in Moab. To all my friends, thanks for the memories!
