A Few Clouds at Last
The muddy Colorado River, with its accompanying thin ribbons of plant life along each bank, turns through the desolate and beautiful red rock Canyonlands two thousand feet below the cliff top overlooks in Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah.
Used a number of times as a stand-in for the Grand Canyon in Hollywood movies, this vista of Dead Horse Point's famous gooseneck in the Colorado River, with vast Canyonlands beyond seeming to stretch to the horizon, is a must experience when in the Moab area. I've been fortunate enough to take in this magnificent and moving view on a few prior occasions, but I'd never before been there with my camera when there were clouds in the sky over the river's bend. Needless to say, Sky Matthews and I were very hopeful as we watched these clouds' approach in space nearly in synch with sunset's approach in time.
I'm not sure it lasted more than a minute or two before a more distant cloud bank interfered and stifled the colorful light, but for those moments, it was particularly special. The clouds took on this ripe orange hue, most brightly underneath, but with accents scattered beautifully throughout the forms of the clouds. In a way, it almost seemed like the light was glowing like an ember from inside the cloud instead of from where the sun was, considerably to the left of the frame.
When this light show was ended abruptly and too soon by those more distant clouds, I thought about how much effort we, as photographers and lovers of nature, put into seeing and experiencing those often fleeting moments here and there when nature's beauty shines even brighter than we imagined, whether in ways large or small. So worth it!
Thanks for viewing!
A Few Clouds at Last
The muddy Colorado River, with its accompanying thin ribbons of plant life along each bank, turns through the desolate and beautiful red rock Canyonlands two thousand feet below the cliff top overlooks in Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah.
Used a number of times as a stand-in for the Grand Canyon in Hollywood movies, this vista of Dead Horse Point's famous gooseneck in the Colorado River, with vast Canyonlands beyond seeming to stretch to the horizon, is a must experience when in the Moab area. I've been fortunate enough to take in this magnificent and moving view on a few prior occasions, but I'd never before been there with my camera when there were clouds in the sky over the river's bend. Needless to say, Sky Matthews and I were very hopeful as we watched these clouds' approach in space nearly in synch with sunset's approach in time.
I'm not sure it lasted more than a minute or two before a more distant cloud bank interfered and stifled the colorful light, but for those moments, it was particularly special. The clouds took on this ripe orange hue, most brightly underneath, but with accents scattered beautifully throughout the forms of the clouds. In a way, it almost seemed like the light was glowing like an ember from inside the cloud instead of from where the sun was, considerably to the left of the frame.
When this light show was ended abruptly and too soon by those more distant clouds, I thought about how much effort we, as photographers and lovers of nature, put into seeing and experiencing those often fleeting moments here and there when nature's beauty shines even brighter than we imagined, whether in ways large or small. So worth it!
Thanks for viewing!