Rain in the Desert

Rain in the Desert

Late afternoon, and a storm is finally gathering at the north end of Panamint Valley. The light is absolutely magical, with the unspeakable longing of the parched sands for moisture. The sun is setting, shining through streaks of rain that may, or may not, ever reach the ground.

Vestrahorn

Vestrahorn

We drove on snow-packed roads, then down a farm road to reach Vestrahorn peak. It is, oddly enough, privately owned because the farmer owns all the land that surrounds it. The sunset was very promising, but then got cut short by another massive snow squall that had been holding off to the south all day.

Vestrahorn pano

Vik Sea Stacks

Vik Sea Stacks

Two views of sea stacks near the little town of Vik, Iceland. The second was shot from up on the hill where an iconic church sits.

Ice Caves

We arrived at this huge glacier just before the roads closed to the west of us from a major winter storm. Serious winds, 50mph and up, stinging snow. But underneath the icecap, it’s an entirely different world. Here are a couple of exposure merges done with Lightroom.

Blood Moon

Blood Moon

Super Blue Blood Moon

There’s something about these special astronomical events that won’t occur again in my lifetime. On January 31, 2018, we were fortunate to witness a Super Blue Blood Moon. That is a full moon that is

  1. A Blue Moon, the second full moon of a month
  2. A Super Moon, one at the closest point of it’s orbit to Earth
  3. A Blood Moon, in other words, a full lunar eclipse

So I packed up the camera, the tripod, and the dog, and headed out to Baylands. I would have gone to the ocean, up on the bluff south of Moss Beach, but I checked the weather (fortunately), and it was foggy. We had a great time in the early morning dew. The eclipse lasted well over an hour for us. Curiously, the colors came out more vivid than I saw in the night sky.

Super Blue Blood Moon

Later on, around 6:30, I took this image from my driveway just as the moon was setting over the western hills. Total occlusion was over, and the sliver of light lit up the tree branches nicely.