Lake Powell and the Blood Moon
There was a lunar eclipse in the early morning hours of January 31 that I wanted to photograph. The forecast for northern Utah was mostly cloudy/overcast so I looked at where else I could go. Down south looked promising so I started looking at opportunities down there. I had never been to Lake Powell but have wanted to get a photo of it for a while. I found a place called Alstrom Point that offer panoramic views of the lake, the many rock formations, and the inlets. I called up a friend who lives in Hurricane and we agreed to pick him up on my way down.
I arrived at his house at about 8:30pm and we packed his gear in the car and left immediately. We still had another 3.5 hours to drive until we got to Alstrom Point. The road to Lake Powell was uneventful until we got to the dirt road that cuts through some badlands, taking us to the overlook. About a month ago I purchased a Subaru Outback and was looking for an opportunity to flex it's muscles. I'm not much of an off-road driver but the road was pretty dicey. AWD or 4x4 and higher clearance is definitely necessary to pass this road. We arrive just before 1am.
We scouted out a few places to shoot from, the full moon giving us enough light to see the landscape. Then we tried to get a couple hour's sleep until the lunar eclipse event began. At 3am our alarms went off and we began setting up our cameras. The lunar eclipse is a much slower event, taking place over the course of almost 4 hours. It started out pretty good, with wispy clouds not being too much of a nuisance. But as the night went on, the clouds got thicker and almost ruined any chance for good photos. We got a break, a 12 second break, during full occlusion that gave us a chance to snap a couple photos.
The clouds were a blessing later in the morning as the sun started to rise. We moved over to our chosen sites to photograph the sunrise colors overlooking Lake Powell. I was completely blown away by how beautiful this landscape is. It really looked like an alien landscape with cobalt blue waters resting at the bottom of red, white, and orange cliffs. The purples in sky caught fire giving us a warm crimson glow.
It was breathtaking. My wife and I are moving into our new house in 3 weeks and she's already picked out the spot on the living room wall for this photo to hang. It is one of the best I've ever taken.
