Dean M. Chriss
Photography
Delicate Arch, Sunset, April 1988
(Click image to enlarge)
This photograph brings back memories of times past that will never
return. It was captured in April of 1988 on film, which was then the only
existing media. I was alone for the entire evening at the 58 foot (16m) tall
Delicate Arch. That was fairly common in
the 1980s during the "off season", which ran from mid-September through
April. It was one of many sublime and
solitary evenings I spent watching the drama of sunset on this one of a kind
landscape. By the middle
1990s anything close to solitude at Delicate Arch became a thing of the past. To
avoid the crowds and the circus atmosphere they create I stopped visiting in
1996. Today a crowd is present every day of the year, numbering in the
hundreds during the busiest season. Conversely large winter storms, bitter
cold temperatures, and dangerously icy trails occasionally minimize the size
of these crowds. I took advantage of that in February of 2022 to obtain my first and probably last
digital photograph of Delicate Arch.