Land that Time Forgot

July 31, 2017

Land That Time Forgot Final 052117 (2)

Photographer: Steve Cullen  
Summary Author: Steve Cullen 

About 100 million years ago the land pictured here at Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona, was once part of a sandy area very near the shores of a great inland sea called the Western Interior Seaway. This ancient seaway spanned the region we now call North America, from the middle of present day Utah to the Appalachian Mountains in the east. It was teeming with life, including giant sharks and huge aquatic reptiles such as plesiosaurs. Additionally, birds, still sporting teeth, were fairly new arrivals on to the evolutionary scene. Photo taken on May 21, 2017.

Photo Details: Taken with a Nikon D810A camera and a Zeiss 15mm Distagon lens; f/2.8. Foreground (land) and background (sky) are multi-image panoramas shot at the same location and at the same time with slightly different camera settings, composited together in Photoshop. Foreground (land) images are 120-second exposures at f/3.5 and ISO 1600. Background (sky) images are 15-second exposures at f/2.8 and ISO 6400.