Clouds Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Susan Brandt Graham Photography

May 25, 2015May 25, 2015

An Awesome Sky

An awesome sky in all directions last night! I was working in the study when the pink light through the window lit up the room.

New Mexico is known for its brilliant light and spectacular skies. They do not occur every day, but they do occur with regularity. It had been some time since I had been aware of one this spectacular, and it felt like an old friend. An amazing sky to the east over the Sandia Mountains as well as to the west, looking toward the Rio Grande valley.

Sunset, looking eastward toward the Sandia Mountains

Sunset, looking westward toward the Rio Grande Valley

When I see a sky like this, I am always reminded of D.H. Lawrence’s description of sunrises in New Mexico. Much the same can be said our our sunsets.

I think New Mexico was the greatest experience from the outside world that I have ever had. It certainly changed me forever. . . . the moment I saw the brilliant, proud morning shine high up over the deserts of Santa Fe, something stood still in my soul, and I started to attend. . . . In the magnificent fierce morning of New Mexico one sprang awake, a new part of the soul woke up suddenly and the old world gave way to a new.

There are all kinds of beauty in the world, thank God, though ugliness is homogeneous. . . . But for a greatness of beauty I have never experienced anything like New Mexico.

The awesome natural beauty of my adopted state…

February 25, 2015

Winter Sunset

Winter Sunset, both East and West

Winter sunset. This was a two-for-one, with interesting things going on both to the east over the Sandias, as well as in the sky to the west. A “winter storm” is due tomorrow, with perhaps 4 inches of snow in the city by Friday. Turbulence is certainly evident in the sky looking west.

We see lenticular clouds over the mountains not infrequently in the winter. I like lenticular clouds. I also enjoy the alpenglow of the Sandias. It does not last long, but it is striking when it appears. This view, looking eastward, appears “calm” to me.

The winter sky looking westward could not have had a more different appearance, and it is anything but “calm.”

The skies here are never boring, and often are quite interesting. This was a great two-for-one sunset.

February 24, 2015February 24, 2015

Winter Sunrises

Winter Sunrises in New Mexico

Winter sunrises in New Mexico are as variable as the winter weather. We do have winter here, and every few years Albuquerque will have a heavy snowfall, such as 22 inches in 2006, or extreme cold, such as -12°F one night in 2011 and temps not above 5°F for three days. But those are extremes.

This was sunrise on a winter day in Albuquerque. It was cold; gusty winds contributed to the wind chill; it snowed a bit; and there was a fair amount of sun! Tomorrow will be warmer and less windy!

This is about as bad as it gets in Albuquerque at this time of the year.

Many winter days, and winter sunrises, in contrast, are spectacular!

This sunrise was less than a week ago, on a day that was unseasonably warm and beautiful.

I do not have to be reminded how fortunate I am to call this “Land of Enchantment” home. Last winter I felt sorry for various friends in the Northeast dealing with the Polar Vortex. This year it seems to be not only cold, but wave after wave after wave of deep and heavy snow – blizzards!! Facebook friends are comparing various snowblowers, or concern about husbands having heart attacks while shoveling snow, and a variety of such concerns. (I keep thinking I really ought to buy a new snow shovel; I still have the one I had in Kansas City, and that was 30 years ago!! 🙂 ))))))) )

With the publication of the ebook, BOSTON SOLSTICE BLUES, a collection of 51 daily poems written in another year, between December 5 and January 24, friend, fellow anthropologist, and writer Jim Stallings has reminded me again how glad I am to be here and not there! On his blog, Jim has described how these poems came to be written. Of note, Jim and his wife are now living in a much warmer place!

A final happy note, at least from my perspective: Daylight Savings Time is almost here!!!! Sunday, March 8, is the day we will “spring forward” at 2:00am. One of my favorite days of the year!

February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

Sunrise by 8 Minutes

Sunrise, Images 8 Minutes Apart

Sunrise is a beautiful phenomenon in New Mexico (as I have said more than once 🙂 ), but the colorful part is not long-lived. If one is not up and looking for it, the color could easily be missed. This morning’s was actually colorful for longer than most, although the peak of the color did not last long. The first image is from 6:43 am. The second image is from 6:51 am. Although the last image is at the peak of color, the color was gone very shortly afterwards.

When I first looked out, the sky was quite dark, but a few of the clouds on the horizon were beginning to show a trace of red. That is always a hopeful sign for a colorful beginning to the morning, and I brought my camera into the kitchen, and drank a cup of coffee while I waited and watched to see what transpired (these colors do not always happen 🙂 ). Finally I thought I should give it try. These images eight minutes apart show intense color in parts of the sky that lasted longer than I had expected.

February 3, 2015

Sunrise Through the Trees

Sunrise through the Trees

Sunrise here in New Mexico holds the potential to always surprise. Today was no exception. The sunrise views usually seen from my home show the Sandias in the background, and a colorful sky. There was some of that this morning. But what made today a bit unusual was the colorful show to the North.

The skies of New Mexico, “Land of Enchantment,” never disappoint, whether they are the cloudless turquoise skies of much of the year, or the brilliant colors of many of our sunrises and sunsets, or the impressive storm clouds of our monsoon season.

I never cease to be amazed, however, at how different our sky can be, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, season by season. I cannot remember seeing such a brilliantly colored sunrise to the North before.

January 18, 2015

The Dark Side of the Mountains

Mountains and light – ever changing and with the interplay being part of the magic of New Mexico, “Land of Enchantment.”

On a glorious day in October of 2014, friends Laurie and Tim, along with my mom, spent a day exploring parts of New Mexico we had not seen in some time. Tim and I were both celebrating a birthday, and the trip itself provided many wonderful birthday surprises.

All day long we saw clouds. Some were big, bright, white puffy clouds against a brilliant blue sky. Some were dark storm clouds. And then there were these clouds that produced some shadows but allowed (and created) rays of light at various points. It was late afternoon, and we were on the east side of these mountains on the journey back to Albuquerque. The mountains from our vantage point would have been in shade, even had there not been clouds.

As we rounded a curve, the rays appeared, ever-so-briefly. We stopped for photographs, and actually had a “rural New Mexico” moment when we met another couple.

Many images from that day had a special meaning to me from the moment they were created. Less than a month later my calm, routine life was shaken by a seismic event that has given some of those images an even more special meaning. This image is one of them.

January 11, 2015

Snow on the Sandias

Snow on the Sandias

Snow on the Sandia Mountains is predicted in the coming week. Albuquerque itself has the possibility of seeing some snowfall. Precipitation is desperately needed in the Southwest, and hopefully we will indeed see precipitation in some form.

Continuing with yesterday’s theme that sunrises and sunsets here are frequently very beautiful and awe inspiring, but unpredictable in what form they may take, this is from a sunset in December of 2013. This is the only time I can recall seeing the light of a setting sun on the mountains with snow on them not light in some fashion the clouds above, and it is one of the rare times I have seen fog below the mountains.

This image looks east to the mountains. The sunset to the west had the more usual sunset colors of orange, gold, and gray, and was quite beautiful. A memorable sunset in both directions, east and west.

The overall blue effect here, combined with the light of the setting sun on the snow, created an image that I’ll not soon forget.

I hope you enjoy this, more than a year after it appeared.

January 10, 2015

Sunrise over the Sandias

Sunrise – and sunset – can be a magical time almost anywhere, but reliably so in the high desert country of New Mexico, “Land of Enchantment.” It is very easy to take our beautiful skies for granted, almost, because we have them so often.

One of the truly remarkable things about our skies, though, is that the exact appearance of a sunrise or sunset can never be predicted, nor how long its appearance will last.

This morning was basically overcast, but a light overcast at the time of sunrise. I really was not expecting too much, but I always watch until I am certain a show either never happened or is over. This morning I made ten photographs between 7:18 and 7:24 am. This is the only one of the images with such distinct rays arising over the Sandia Mountains, starting from where the sun was about to appear.

The magic of sunrise – and the sky in general – in New Mexico.

December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

Autumn on the Rio Grande

Autumn is the most glorious time in New Mexico, for so many reasons.

As 2014 draws to an end, a winter storm is bearing down to ring in the New Year. This seemed a good day to revisit one of the spectacular autumn days on the Rio Grande.

The large trees are cottonwood trees. Cottonwoods are found along the Rio Grande, but not far out from it. They are some of the major trees of a southwest forest along the Rio Grande, a forest referred to as “the bosque.” New Mexicans love the bosque, and Albuquerque has miles of bike and walking trails through and along the bosque.

This particular image is from Corrales, New Mexico, and the Rio Grande is just out of the image to the east. The mountains you glimpse are the Sandias.

It was a glorious day!!

December 28, 2014

Abandoned

Readers here over the years know that I have had an ongoing project recording adobe structures in New Mexico. This often includes abandoned and decaying structures, as well as some of the beautifully maintained adobe structures. Adobe is the building material one thinks of when considering the traditional construction material of Twentieth Century (and earlier) New Mexico. Those of you who read here also know that I love adobe.

Driving around New Mexico, both in rural and in urban areas, you will see a lot of accumulated “junk,” such as old cars to name but one type.

On a beautiful autumn day in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico I was photographing a beautiful landscape. These structures were just out of the landscape scene, but I found them interesting. So I photographed them as well. Although they appeared abandoned, I will say I did not want to get much closer, just in case they were being used for something I did not want to know about. After all, this is New Mexico.

The image itself lent itself to some post processing techniques not typical for me. I hope you enjoy the image.

Tag: Clouds

An Awesome Sky

An Awesome Sky

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