The Joy of Clouds

There is nothing less interesting to me as a landscape photographer than a bright clear cloudless sky, but add some clouds and marginal weather with interesting light and wow, some magical images can be made. A great example of this is my Bison and Crestone Peaks image where the sun lights up the layers of clouds formed  from an inversion and a clearing late Spring storm with fresh snow on the peaks . Earlier in the morning the valley was blanketed in fog and I was able to make some interesting images but as it started to burn off, this  amazing scene was revealed.  Clouds can add a dynamic element to any landscape and can make any image truly unique.

I will offer two additional examples, a black and white image of amazing cumulus cloud build up over the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona in July, and early morning  clouds over the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. Without the clouds my camera would have stayed in the bag.

Cumulus Cloud Build-up over the Chiricahua Mountains, AZ

Tall Grass Prairie Morning, Oklahoma

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Memories of Summer: Oklahoma Tall Grass Prairie Sunrise

A blast  of Winter came to Colorado over the last few days; snow, cold and wind. Now I actually like cold and snowy weather; it can provide  beautiful and challenging photography, but my senses  were still accustomed to the wonderful  warm days of Indian Summer in Colorado that were present just days before the storm . This morning, as I scraped the ice off my truck in 16 degree temps, my mind wandered back to my summer excursions, particular to a trip I made in July to Oklahoma when the temperatures went over 100 degrees. On one day I spent a wonderful morning at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in the Osage Hills of Northern Oklahoma and was able to capture a great sunrise. Conditions were perfect with incredible verdant green grass and wonderful clouds in the sky that lit up as the sun hit the horizon. Viewing it certainly warms me up and brings back wonderful memories. Isn’t that why we all make photographs?

Sunrise on the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Oklahoma

Tall Grass Prairie Autumn Colors

I have  been processing more images from the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. This image was made in the afternoon before the image I posted on Monday. A storm system was building to west and the soft cloudy low contrast  light  made the colors of the Indian grass and Goldenrod almost glow. The interesting sky and clouds provided a good contrast to the layers of prairie grass and flowers.

Goldenrod blooms among the Indian Grass in the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, Kansas

Tall Grass Prairie Morning

Late last week I traveled to Kansas City to drop off my two prints for the Kansas Park Trust art show I talked about in my previous post. Not wanting to travel to Kansas without doing some photography, I made my way to the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve near Cottonwood Falls,  Kansas and was able to make several new images there in the late afternoon and following morning. Conditions were particularly interesting for the morning because there was a blanket of fog covering the prairie which made for some very evocative images. As the sun rose  the fog started to clear and the early morning light was particularly pleasing as is presented in the following image:

Morning light as the fog clears on the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, Kansas