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Narrative:
"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude." ~ Denis Waitley

“Only we have the power to make ourselves happy or suffer the absurd. Neither experience can be journeyed to, awarded, or served – Only recognized within to the thoughtful mindfully self-observed. This power inside has always been so, yet this knowing can so often slip and slide by in the daily stride of life, where we feel the challenges and side to the situation at hand as our strife – those which may threaten our experience of happiness and ruin our ride. We often forget living ‘in the moment’ instead of living ‘for the moment’ or else do not even know suffering and happiness are simply states of mind fed by the power of choice – sourced either in acceptance for what is or in disapproval of what shouldn’t be. It can be experienced either with love, grace, and gratitude for this moment, or with frustration, ego, and disappointment for another. It is simply a self-spiritual state of mind to be happy or to suffer for this moment. Indeed, this moment is our lives, don’t be mistaken, and our acceptance is when happiness awakens.” ~ Jack Mountain

I’ve become a personal expert of sorts about how sometimes things don’t go the way we want them to. Out of habit, our normal reaction to these events is to regard the situation itself as the problem, though happiness and suffering only actually exist within the mind. In fact and in reality, all of our problems arise only from our own mind. To those unfamiliar with their mind, this may sound counter-intuitive, else completely false. I get it. I’ve been there. Yet, if we take the time with still waters to reflect deeply and vulnerably, we will all eventually discover this truth for ourselves. When we can respond to life’s difficulties with a positive and peaceful mind, they suddenly can seem to melt away into nothing right before our very eyes, or else unfold into a new possibility. If willing, we may even come to view them as exciting challenges for personal and spiritual growth. You see, problems only really arise when we adopt a negative state of mind in response to a difficult or unexpected situation. Some of us, me included, have lived or currently live life by default in a manner of ‘disappointment waiting to happen’, or ‘upset waiting to happen’, or ‘<fill in the blank> waiting to happen’, and then seamlessly and consistently respond with defaulted behavior consistent with that…like we’re not even aware of the choice we have, or else shamefully realize it too late. Because of this, if we want to free ourselves from all our problems, we must gain control of our mind. And that is what I was able to own the morning of this magical scene.

Welcome to Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park. If you’re a nature photographer by any little degree, Mesa Arch is one of those places that seemingly everyone who knows about it wants to photograph, and I am no exception. It’s a true iconic shot of the west. I’d been here once before at sunrise years ago knowing the potential of putting a great image in my bag, while also knowing this can be a real shit-show. Prior to that, I’d heard stories about poor energies and conflict, especially if multiple photography workshops show up at once, as everyone jockeys in a shifting-self organized line created by the first person there in the early dark, waiting to take the exact same shot at the exact same moment, as if their careers or lives depended on it…as if the distance traveled to be here makes one more deserving than another…as if one’s happiness is based completely on something out of their control, based upon circumstances and the expectations one comes here with that are event-based.

My first time here an hour before sunrise, I was late and the line had formed, but I was able to cut myself in and wait. A non-photographer woman, just a normal tourist in love with nature, was not going to be concerned with the line of photographers, instead walking out to the edge in front of us all and laying down to watch the show without anyone in her way. As the event moment crept closer and closer, the uneasiness in the line escalated to the point of several people asking her to move, and when met with resistance, escalated further and further in negative energy and expression. As the beautiful moment happened, most people felt no beauty, and what should have been a muted hush of photographers clicking away, turned into yelling matches about how “Its Nature, get over it!” While more suppressed in expression, I too felt the unhappiness of the moment, peace turned to conflict, irreverence not befitting the beauty of the scene, and that is what I left with. I told myself I wouldn’t be back, as it wasn’t worth it to me to get the same identical shot as everyone else while being in that not-so-energetic setting.

This past Summer, while touring a client through the southwest, my journey would take me through and past Moab, UT. This National Park and this scene were not on my itinerary; however, logistics required me to rest one night in the area after 10 hours of driving; Utah was not the destination. With hesitation, I realized that we could attempt this scene first thing in the morning and not suffer any delays driving another 10-hour day, so I found camping very nearby. It would be a great shot for my client, so I would focus on her getting the shot, and if it worked out for me too, then great I guess; although I still felt cautious about our expectations and an un-inspired cookie-cutting of lenses and compositions.

We awoke early, but not early enough, and I could feel my angst stirring when we arrived and found many cars already parked at the trailhead, an hour before sunrise. We quickly and quietly hiked in and I felt both our angst rising as we can see quite the line already formed, with quite a few photographers and non-photographer cell phone users filling the space. Two iPhone users were using tiny tripods and were very intent on running timelapses all through the event. This would be interesting to say the least. I moved to the middle of the line and talked my client’s way into getting her tripod cut into the mix. There was no more room to do so for me, which I accepted immediately, instead standing behind and starting to talk her through the setup and the shot, while letting go of all my angst and enjoying the hushed quiet moments in anticipatory delight. As the minutes ticked by, I listened to and coached others though the shot as well, making friends while I stood there not set up. While I would not get the shot, I could at least enjoy the relatively good energy and beauty of the moments.

When the sun finally started rising, muted discussions were replaced with just the sound of clicks as the sun first squinted while breaking the horizon. As the sun moved above the horizon, but still below the bottom edge of the arch, peopled started looking at their flurry of shots, comparing with each other in delight, as they got ready for the sun to squint again as it goes behind the arch. At this point, my client, as well as the group of photographers next to us in line were feeling guilty about getting their shots, while I so graciously stood there with hand on collapsed tripod, with a belt of three other cameras on my waist. I insisted it was OK, that I am just here for the moment, and after the line breaks up, I will get a few editorial snaps if it works out. There was little resistance to that idea as the sun began to break the arch’s bottom horizon, and the flurry of photos went off again.

A couple of minutes later the event was over, at least from the perspective of the position that everyone had in the line, and most people were becoming satiated, as they started to look at each other’s shots while the gaggled row started to break up. I decided I would cut the distance between the group and the arch and get down really low to try and still catch some last squint, however I got the objections of Mr. iPhone timelapse dude. I looked at him with a serious yet sorrowful smile and said, “you should know better than to expect to do a timelapse here without people getting in your shot.” <Don’t get me started on time lapsers who feel entitled to own a scene for hours or longer vs. a still photographer who only needs short moments and knows how to share…that is another story>.

Anyway, I set up for a crappy composed and forced shot and exposed, but I knew