Watching Clouds
A question was asked in a hiking group that got me thinking all day about clouds. They had posted a cloud forcast and asked the group if it was “worthwhile” to go for a sunrise hike.
I posted these two photos and said that this was a memory I will have for the rest of my life.
This is sunrise with clouds…
I had woken up super early, stressed and not feeling particularly well. Not so horribly sick that you’re in bed all day, yet far too sick to go hiking. I drove up I90 to a secret little spot at Lake Keechelus. The light was magical against the dark, moody clouds. The lake was like mirror glass. It brought me to tears.
As today went on, I found myself thinking about all the magical moments that clouds were what made the photograph. Reflected on how much I love to sit and watch the clouds roll across the sky from a fire lookout or the top of a mountain. I flipped back through saved photos on my cell phone remembering times and places that the sky gave me magic.
I had been on vacation in Oregon, the little town of Depot Bay. It had been stormy and cloudy all day. After this glorious pink sunset, it started raining as I sat in the hottub with a glass of champagne. Tears streamed down my face. It wouldn’t have been that without clouds, without rain.
The next photo was a camp up in the North Cascades, end of the season. Hadn’t seen the sun in hours and I was cuddled up in a warm hat and down jacket. Oh but the sky lit up in golds, purples, and pinks against shadowed trees. It brought in a cold, windy night where I got very little sleep but it was absolutely worth it.
These angry clouds rolling in cut my hike along Ptarmigan Ridge at Baker short. However, it did not make for a bad hike, just a different one than I’d planned. I was absolutely mesmerized by the clouds roiling up from the valley and across the mountain peaks. It just started raining as I was crossing the parking lot to my car.
Look at Shuksan with a blanket of clouds drapped across him!
But I guess if you live in Washington for 30+ years, you love the moody mountains
But it isn’t just that we find beauty in the dark and stormy landscape. The clouds dress up a sunset
Clouds gift additional depth and color to the sky that otherwise would be boring. A blue sky, a calm water, and a sunset all look the same without some clouds to play with
And even without sunset or sunrise, I will always love the texture of grayscale that a cloudy day can bring to a location. The world is beautiful in all it’s different versions.
Perhaps that is what makes me a photographer. I just see the world a certain way. Hopefully, I can share the world I see with the rest of you. Maybe it will make your world a little more beautiful.
I don’t create the texture of the water or the way a cloud reflects along it’s surface. I just hope to be around to capture it in that one, unique moment in time
Sometimes, I just get really lucky. I was driving home and came to a skidding halt just outside Lincoln City, Oregon at the Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The sunrise made the whole world pink. I still cannot believe it was real.
Yes, the answer is always yes. Even if the forecast says clouds, you still go out for the hike. The drive. You always go outside.
