Category: Photography

Moonrise over Lomaki Pueblo

It was the day before the full Moon and I wanted to photograph the Moon as it rose above the Painted Desert. Unfortunately, a thin band of high clouds moved across the area late in the afternoon and were just enough to obscure the Moon when it was still low on the horizon. Time for a backup plan.

Moonrise above Lomaki Pueblo.
Moonrise above Lomaki Pueblo.
Moon rise over the interior of Lomaki Pueblo.
Moon rise over the interior of Lomaki Pueblo.

We drove a short distance to the Lomaki and Box Canyon pueblos in Wupatki National Monument and set about capturing the Moon as it rose above the ruins. It would have worked better if I could have gotten farther away from the ruins since this would make the Moon appear larger relative to the structures. I was able to get one shot using a focal length of 100mm which partially achieved what I wanted. The interior image was shot using 24mm wide-angle focal length. Good for the ruins but it makes for a tiny image of the Moon.

Shadows projected on Lomaki Pueblo.
Shadows projected on Lomaki Pueblo.

Finally, just before the Sun set we took some photos of our shadows projected on the ruins. Art? Hardly. Fun? Yes.

The Heron and the Moon

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The Heron and the Moon.
The Heron and the Moon.

Sometimes a wonderful photographic opportunity just falls into place with no effort on my part.

I watched a hawk dive down towards the water of Wet Beaver Creek and then heard the squawking of another bird—this heron—as it took flight. It landed in this tree top a moment later. And then I saw that the Moon was right there. I only had to take a step or two for this positioning of Moon and heron. And, then, a moment later, it took flight again and was gone.

Fogbows, Glories, and Brocken Spectres

Another winter storm brought some snow but also morning fog to some of the low-lying areas. This type of shallow fog can produce fogbows as well as a Glory and Brocken spectre. I was not disappointed as all three were visible.

Fog bow with Glory and Brocken spectre.
Fog bow with Glory and Brocken spectre.
Glory and Brocken Spectre (center) with partial segments of a Fogbow.
Glory and Brocken Spectre (center) with partial segments of a Fogbow.

Time lapse (50x) of fog.

Another round of snow is expected this week.

Mountain-Generated Snow Squalls

A few days ago we had an impressive snow squall that formed downwind of the San Francisco Peaks. Watching this evolve on radar was fascinating and I decided to drive to a location where I would have a good view to the east.

Low clouds and fog brightly lit by the sun
Low clouds and fog brightly lit by the sun
Annotated image showing cloud motions in the snow squall.
Annotated image showing cloud motions in the snow squall.

Clouds in the west were blocking most sunlight but there was a narrow gap that allowed the sun to brightly illuminate the low clouds and fog associated with this event.

Radar depiction of a snow squall.
Radar depiction of a snow squall.

The radar image shows the precipitation from the snow squall while the large white dot is my location. The overall motion of the low cloud was to the south-southeast (left-to-right in the photograph)—however, the motion at the top of the low cloud was in the reverse direction (i.e., right-to-left) and there was some rotation along the cloudy/clear interface. This is fairly typical of a density current with cold air sliding under warmer air and shear/rotation being present at the interface.

Another fun day of cloud photography!

Birds in Flight

A few days after our big snowfall event I ventured out to Mormon Lake in search of interesting photographs. Upon arrival, I was treated to several hawks and ravens drifting on the wind directly over the Mormon Lake Overlook. Switching from the landscape settings to something more useful for capturing birds in flight (BIF) took a few minutes to get right.

Hawk riding the updrafts near Mormon Lake.
Hawk riding the updrafts near Mormon Lake.
Two (of three) hawk near Mormon Lake.
Two (of three) hawk near Mormon Lake.
Raven riding the updrafts near Mormon Lake.
Raven riding the updrafts near Mormon Lake.

I managed to catch one good image of this hawk up close and one image of a couple riding the updrafts. I also got few good images of a pair of ravens (or maybe crows???).

There were captured with a Nikon D750 and the Nikon AF-P 70-300mm zoom lens.

Ice fishing on Upper Lake Mary.
Ice fishing on Upper Lake Mary.

One the way home, we spotted these folks out on Upper Lake Mary doing some ice fishing and just hanging out on a fine day.