Clearing Storm

While up early, I noticed that the storm was clearing from the mountains and that I might be able to get a great image of the clouds hanging on the cliffs of Red Rock. I grabbed my camera and was out in Red Rock Canyon in ten minutes. I am truly blessed to live so close to the canyon and have the ability to get there in time to make great images before the weather can change. This image, Hanging Clouds and Trees, was taken past Blue Diamond along highway 159. I had just entered Red Rock Canyon and saw this scene unfold before me as I was driving. I had noticed these trees on several trips, but they had always blended into the tan hills behind them. What truly makes this image work is that the hills are in shadow allowing the Cottonwood trees to stand out. Twenty minutes after this image was taken, clouds moved in obscuring the cliffs and it started to rain.

Lost Creek Waterfall

The trail to this waterfall is a short hike that ends in this box canyon. It usually flows all winter and into early spring before it dries up. This has been a wet winter and so the flow was pretty good when I hiked to it in early February. I had to do a lot of boulder hopping and my feet got wet on several occasions during the trip. This first image called Lost Creek Waterfall and Pool really shows off the beauty of this place. I backed off and used my wide angle lens with polarizer filter. I especially like the bluish-green color of the trees in the image. This is becoming another favorite of mine. The second image called Winter Veil is a close up of the falls.

First Creek

First Creek is a favorite hike of mine. The first two images are of a hidden waterfall and pool off of the trail. The first image is a close-up of the waterfall which really shows off the red, green, and purples of the moss and ferns. The second image called Secluded Waterfall and Pool was taken with my 18mm wide angle lens and really shows off the beauty of this hidden area. The final image, called First Creek Cascade and Grasses, was taken about another half mile up the trail from the waterfall. I took this image with my 18-35mm lens at 18mm and a Circular Polarizer Filter to cut down the glare on the rocks. This has become one of my favorites.

Snow!

There were several big winter storms this year, but the biggest occurred at the beginning of January. Red Rock Canyon received anywhere from 6" of snow at the lowest elevations to over a foot at the highest. I woke up early and made it to Red Rock Overlook before the sun rose. The storm had just cleared and the temperature with wind chill was in the teens! I was anticipating the sun breaking threw at sunrise and changing the scene to colors of pinks and oranges, but the clouds blocked out the sun.
Instead, I hiked down to the creek bed and took several amazing images. The one on the left called Rainbow Mountain and Winter Creek was taken with my Tamron 28-80mm lens @ 50mm. I had never hiked down to this spot before because the creek is usually dry. On rare occasions it is flowing after a big rain storm, but I had never seen this combination of water, snow, and clouds before. The horizontal image below, called Winter Along Pine Creek, was taken from the same spot as the other one. It was taken with the same Tamron 28-80mm lens but at a wider angle of 35mm. I had a magical morning photographing this scene, waiting for the clouds to move into the right positions and for the wind to stop blowing so that the creek would be still.