Tag: clouds

Sunset Clouds Above Downtown LA (2/2)

Sunset Clouds Above Downtown LA (2/2) on Flickr.

Gorgeous day after a rainstorm. I kept checking to see whether the San Gabriel Mountains had snow, but the clouds never quite lifted. Even at sunset only the lower slopes were visible…but those clouds made for some spectacular sunset viewing.

Yellow clouds near sunset.

Yellow clouds near sunset. It looked like the thicker clouds were actually raining – in fact, we could see a fragment of rainbow off to the right of the frame – but there was no sign of the rain actually reaching the ground anywhere.

They came out a bit too orange, now that I look at them again. But the golden hour sunlight reflected off of the cloud cover made for eerie lightning. It reminded me a bit of being in the smoke plume of a wildfire, except for the fact that the air was clear. (Clearer than usual, actually, with the Santa Anas blowing.)

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Barn After the Storm

Old Town Irvine After the Storm

Well, technically, it’s Old Town Irvine during a lull in a storm last December. The clouds were moving very fast, with light and shadow moving over the empty fields and office parks, and I waited several minutes for the sun to play over this scene.

I particularly liked the contrast of the dead brown tumbleweeds scattered around the bright green meadow.

My one regret with this photo is not being able to capture the steep drop-off into a wash right below the frame. I could get the wash, or the sky, but not both.

Maxfield Parrish Sky

Maxfield Parrish Sky

Maxfield Parrish Sky, originally uploaded by Kelson.

One night last October, I stepped out of the office building and felt like I’d stepped into a Maxfield Parrish painting. The whole sky looked like this. (Or at least the half that was visible.) It literally stopped me in my tracks.

I spent the next 15 minutes walking around the parking lot, watching the lighting on the clouds change as the sun set and taking pictures.