Blue…….interrupted

Richard Charpentier Arizona, Notes from Rich, Photography, Prescott 4 Comments

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Cropped, but no other edits. It's that blue! 1/500th, f8.0, ISO 200, 200mm

The sky here in Arizona is very BLUE.  At times it seems to be hyper blue.  And it stretches out forever.

I know Montana is known as big sky country, but I think Arizona could take a run at that title as well.  The sky is a predominent feature here, and it’s big.  And it’s blue…..

When I first moved to Prescott I was blown away and astounded by the blue skies.  Every day, sun and blue sky.  Every day…..every day……every day……..  And then finally after weeks and weeks of blue skies, sunny days, and beautiful weather I finally asked myself, “Does it rain here?  Ever?”

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To break up the blue I'll feature foreground and items....1/500th, f8.0, ISO 200, 17mm

Later I learned it does indeed rain here.  Monsoons, winter storms, even a little snow.  Clouds roll in and the hyper blue gets interrupted, even if for a short time.  But eventually we just go back to blue.

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Other ways to break up all the blue inclue tossing yourself into the photo on a cliff's edge.....1/400th, f/11, 17mm, ISO 200

If we’re lucky, some puffy clouds show up to add some interesting points of contrast to my photos.  If we’re not lucky the clouds go away and don’t bring the monsoons we so desperately need right now.  And if we’re really unlucky we’ll start seeing a different type of cloud that interrupts the perpetual blue……….clouds of smoke on the horizon.

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In the distance you can see the smoke near Mingus Mountain. 1/1000th, f/8.0, 70mm, ISO 200. Topaz used to accentuate the smoke cloud.

Driving home from the store today I saw the hyper blue sky with something in it I didn’t like.  A plume of smoke rising out near Mingus Mountain.  Controlled burn, planned burn, crash and burn, or just your standard forest fire?  I don’t know.  But I do know that smoke on the horizon is a little unnerving around these parts.  Let’s hope that its controlled, and under control.

Personally, I’d prefer breaking all of that blue up with a few monsoonal clouds that turn into completely gray skies complete with downpours and lightening.  I sure hope we get some rain soon!  In the meantime, I’ll keep looking for ways to break all the blue up.  🙂

Oh, and with the exception of the last photo (which was edited) everything else is as shot.  That means the sky here really is that blue, honest!

Comments 4

  1. Rich, weather is on the way in the next couple of days…and maybe into the weekend.

    Where exactly does the Tuesday night fire dance practice / pyrotechnic craziness happen. I need a location? Please email the info to me.

    Yep, I am thinking of driving up, from Casa Grande to check it out on the 18th. I can use all the tech info you can give me. I don’t have a Mark II, so, hopefully my wannabe camera can do the job. Thank goodness I got he day off on Wednesday. My usual start time is 2:00am.

  2. It’s been burning for the last three days… It was not set intentionally, but they are letting it burn and keeping it maintained. It’s out near Jerome and if it’s done durning by this weekend I’ll probably go and check it out.

  3. If you want to make the blue even more pronounced, try a polarizing filter. Yeah, I know that filters on the camera are old school.

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    Author

    Dagny,

    Yup, I own polarizers as well. Funny thing, even without them I’ve gotten comments from folks that the sky can’t really be that blue, and I must have done something. Nope, the sky here is very blue, even without a polarizer or editing. 🙂

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