With the Bonita fire still burning roughly 10 miles west of us, our habit for the last several weeks has been to look upward and outward at the sky on a fairly regular basis.  There are, unfortunately, a number of fires burning throughout the western United States, Portugal, and other places around the world, and the smoke from those fires alters the quality of light and particulates in the air. Here on the mesa, we would have one day of smoke and 4% humidity, while another morning, we would have fog, low scud, and 70% humidity.  It has been both interesting and disturbing to watch.  So when the skies did clear enough to expose thunderheads and other cloud formations, I grabbed my camera to take advantage of it.

Summer skies in the Rocky Mountain west have lots of variety and drama, providing a palette of colors and textures.  Here is a shot of some cumulus cloud buildup in the northeast.  The top layer of lower cloud fingers are like a curtain staging the thunderheads.

cloudscape

A slightly different shot of the same formation in black and white

cloudscape, black and white

To the south, different forces were at work, producing this formation.

cloudscape 2  

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@