Old Man Sunset
(Click to watch the storm as God intended…larger, with a dark border)
Scenes like these are the reason why I love chasing and photographing the monsoons here in Arizona.
This was the day before the big haboob arrived in Phoenix. As you can see, dust storms in this state are a normal occurrence during the summer (just nothing so bad as the July 5th one). I was headed south from Phoenix and saw a big wall of dust headed our way, along with a pretty epic looking stormcell. On radar, it was actually headed perfectly towards town.
So I had found this spot the day before and set up here again. I love this old tree. It looks dead, but has green growth on some of the outlying branches. I’ve grown quite fond of it…dubbing it “the old man.” I started running a timelapse and let it go for quiet awhile. I may actually post it sometime soon, but as I am just young in doing these, I moved the camera around a few times, so I need to work a bit on the final product. It’s actually pretty gorgeous how this storm grows, dies and the colors move across it until night falls.
As it stands, a shot like this isn’t super-easy to get. Being able to capture a dying monsoon anvil, complete with awesome sunset colors, PLUS grab a wall of dust moving in front of it…well, it just doesn’t happen much. The only thing that would have made it more rare would be a lightning strike!
Hoping for a few more monsoon sunsets like this before the season ends! Still have a lot of chasing to do.
This is such a cool sunset shot Mike – I love everything about it. Seriously, it’s legit.
The cloud shapes give you the feel of them coming right at you. I’m guessing there was too much movement to try and bracket this out?
Hey Chris…no, I just don’t bracket everything these days. I mean, yes, this was part of a timelapse anyways, but I doubt I would have bracketed it out…or at least, I might have, but would have just used a single RAW.
Love that dust storm adding quite a bit of drama to this gorgeous sunset. The foreground tree adds in a nice touch as well. Just a great shot all around man!
SIck shot! Those clouds are insane and the colors are amazing!
Spectacular cloud formations and color. Love the lone tree and how the clouds dominate the frame.
Great shot. I have the same structure that I shot from the Casa Grande area. I wish the storms would return.
Awesome Mike…just awesome!
Amazing shot here Mike, LOVE the colors and the sky!
Absolutely gorgeous.
The colors in the clouds are so interesting.
Great shot. The colors are fantastic.
Stellar composition, Mike. Skies don’t get much more expressive than this impressive example.
Very Very cool!
Just an incredible image mike! I love the combo of the sky set against this tree in the foreground. Well done!
Great shot. I really love the idea of storm chasing, but somehow New England doesn’t seem to provide the same drama. But we’re going to NC in a couple of weeks. Is it wrong of me to pray for a hurricane to hit while we’re there?
Seriously? This shot totally rocks my socks. The range of colours is absolutely stunning and your composition is rock solid. So great, dude.
Super shot!…
Don’t know all the photography jargon, but looking at this takes my breath away! How’s that?