Winter has finally lost it’s grip in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado but the beautiful early summer weather has more than made up for it.  June is usually a dry hot month around here but like with last year, the monsoon weather has set in early at least for now.

I set out late in the evening up into the high county on a dark stormed filled night with little expectation of any meaningful light piercing through. My son accompanied me and once again he told me he had a good feeling.  At one point I almost turned around when the storm clouds became even more ominous as we approached our destination. He persisted in telling me that things would change at sunset and man I’m I glad I listened to him!

Just before dark, a beam of light broke through highlighting the bottom edge of the West Needle Peaks. We had already put our gear away so we quickly scrambled to get into position and then the rain started pouring. This didn’t stop the now beautiful red sunset now in progress.  I held my hand over the end of my lens to prevent the rain from ruining one of the most beautiful sunsets of my lifetime.   Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, a rainbow dropped out of the sky like a tornado.

Despite the rain causing the picture to be a little fuzzy, we were both in awe with what had just occurred. It was a quiet ride back home as we were both pondering in our heads what an amazing scene we were so blessed to witness…

We recently took our son on a tour around the beautiful Southwest for one of his college graduation presents. We visited well know places such as Bryce, Zion, Horseshoe Bend, and other areas along the Colorado River Gorge. We also found some unique, less well know places that included a slot canyon and other beautiful landscapes.  It was a real treat to get to spend such quality time with him before he ventures out on his own path of life.

We were especially blessed to witness an incredible sunset along the rim of the Colorado River.   It was blowing like crazy with dark storm clouds all around the area where the sun would be setting but this time the sun found its way under the dark clouds just before setting. It lit up the canyon and the entire area with its beautiful golden saturated light as so many of you have been able to witness in you own experiences. Times like that not only provide for a beautiful shot but more importantly, it allows us to better appreciate the life that God has given to us especially when we share these special moments with loved ones…

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This shot was taken a few days ago during the full Moon with Spica, the brightest star in the Virgo the Maiden Constellation. This was also the smallest full Moon for 2016.

It was absolutely beautiful to watch the thin clouds above the peaks light up to a golden glow well before the rising full Moon made it’s appearance above the beautiful Needles located in the San Juan Mountains of SW Colorado. The sun had set nearly an hour before but enough residual light remained to highlight the face of the towering peaks which nicely accented the fresh snow. As evident in the shot, many avalanches had previously roared down the steep slopes from recent wet spring storms.

The sunset on the clouds had faded away just in time for the full Moon to take over with it’s unique golden glow and that was when my shutter started clicking. I took 30 pictures and felt really good about it until the next day when I started editing the shots.   I was greatly disappointed to find that all of the shots were out of focus except for one. The wind was blowing a bit, apparently enough for camera mounted on my tripod to move during the long exposure or maybe I was so excited to get the shot that I was careless on the delayed shutter release. Regardless, I was very thankful to God to have one shot that I could work with.  It was an incredible evening to witness…

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