Dramatic Skies

Continuing with a few shots from the archives, I’m sharing some images that fall in the category of dramatic skies. Landscape photographers love interesting skies in their scenes and often, the sky can be as compelling as the subject itself.

Today’s first two images were taken three years ago and have undergone some further development for inclusion in today’s blog. The first one, entitled Summer Storm was taken in early September, 2016. The scene features Mount Turner in the background, viewed across Buller Pond in the foreground. The location is along the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Trail south of Canmore and as I recall I was returning home when it came into view. I wanted the photograph badly enough to get out in the rain and take it.

The second photograph was taken a little closer to home, at the Vermilion Lakes just north of the Town of Banff. It was taken in early June of 2016 in the early evening, a couple of hours before sunset.

These photos are similar in many respects, containing elements that always contribute to a strong picture; mountains, water, interesting clouds and strong light contrast. Although not the subject of the images, the clouds play a prominent role. You to have to be fortunate to find scenes like this that contain so many favourable attributes.

My last photo is one where the clouds are clearly the subject of the photograph. These clouds, known as Mammatus are quite unusual and I was entirely centred on them as the subject. This photograph was taken in Scottsdale, Arizona in March of 2012, in the course of a thunderstorm. I haven’t seen anything like them since.

Wikipedia is pleased to tell you more about these unique clouds if you’re interested…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammatus_cloud