skyscape – Page 3 – melinda anderson photography

Golden Hour- EXTREME edition

We have lived in Arizona for a year now, and I am still obsessed with the changing skies. On Monday night, we looked out the window to see this (captured with my iPhone):

I grabbed my Nikon and ran outside. Unfortunately my macro lens (85mm) was on the camera, but, knowing how quickly light can change, I didn’t take the time to change it to my zoom to be able to capture a wide angle view. By the time, I got outside, the rainbow had faded and everything was bathed in an almost eerie golden light.

The clouds in every direction were shades of pink and gold, which darkened during the 5-10 minutes I took these photos.

All the photos have only minor exposure and clarity adjustments. The last one has Kim Klassen’s everyday texture added.

August 27, 2014August 26, 2014

Melinda4 Comments

Alas, the End

Today is the end of our friend, Joan’s visit to our home in Prescott. We are so sad to see her go- we had such a wonderful time with her! Yesterday, she got to experience a true “Retirement in Prescott” day.

We started the day with a trip to our fabulous hardware store, where we spent so much time browsing that we almost forgot why we were there (to buy picture hangers and a birdfeeder extender hook). Then we drove down to the square so Joan could take photos of the courthouse and some of the surrounding buildings.

She and Lonnie enjoyed walking the timeline of the history of Yavapai County.

We did a complete circuit of the courthouse building, which is undergoing some construction, with a security guard acting as tour guide for part of the way.

After lunch at home, we headed out to the movies so that Joan could experience the reclining seats. We saw Into the Storm (thumbs down for acting and plot, thumbs up for special effects), and afterward walked out into our own extreme storm- driving rain, thunder, lightning, and flooding roadways. Now Joan can say she has truly experienced summer in Arizona!

The sunset and flag photos each have textures added: ecru on both photos, and also waterfront 17 on the sunset (both by Kim Klassen).

Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.

August 19, 2014August 18, 2014

Melinda6 Comments

Somewhere over the . .

Warning: there are more Arizona skies in this post!

Last night,we had just sat down to dinner, when my husband exclaimed- LOOOOOK! This is not that unusual; we have beautiful clouds and sunsets (not to mention birds and snakes and lizards. . .), and we are always telling each other to LOOOOK!

As you have guessed, there was a beautiful rainbow out there (and it had not been raining).

But what became immediately apparent was that it was a DOUBLE rainbow that stretched across the whole horizon! I grabbed my camera (and he grabbed his), and we ran outside. I don’t know if he captured the whole span, but I soon discovered that my 18-200 mm lens was not really wide enough- especially, because it started raining as soon as we got out there, and we had to stand on the porch and then in the open garage. It got too wet too quickly to stand out there, so we went back to eating dinner. These photos do not begin to capture the beauty of the rainbow or the quality of the light- but here they are.

I don’t know what is going on with the clouds in the middle two photos (the darker semi-circular shape at the top). A camera thing, a flying saucer thing- who knows?

BTW, it being summer in Arizona, there was thunder and lightning going on too!

August 11, 2014August 10, 2014

Melinda1 Comment

Evening Light

We had some rain late yesterday afternoon- and a rainbow.

After I took a few rainbow photos, I turned around and took these two photos of the pre-sunset light shining through the Russian sage. Always turn around!