Photo Friday: Dynamic Light and Dynamic Landscape

Facing east, the sky was nearly pitch black shrouded by the fierce storm that had just passed through. As the sun dipped below the horizon the last rays hit the trailing storm clouds and the ambient warm light lit up the valley across the Badlands in South Dakota.
Dynamic Light and Dynamic Landscape

Currently, in Nebraska, the weather can’t decide if it should be winter or spring. Just last week I noticed my tulips beginning to reach from the ground only to have 9 inches of snow dumped on them a day later. Normally, when it snows I get excited to get some photographs, but the very next day the snow began to melt leaving muddy messes everywhere. The result? The transition makes nature photography challenging. So, I decided to head to the computer and go through some archives of unprocessed photographs. Today’s image was taken last summer, about 30 minutes prior to Silence After the Storm. It was an incredible evening at Badlands National Park full of dynamic weather. The fierce storm had just passed to the east leaving a dark void. The setting sun behind me illuminated the trailing storm clouds and gave the whole landscape an ambient warm tone. This is the kind of weather and light that as a photographer gets my heart racing and my blood pumping, even if I am standing in the same place for 30 minutes watching the light change!

Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 20mm, f/11, 1/20 sec.
Badlands National Park, South Dakota

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