Pink Rain

I had found the location, the only thing left to do was wait for the right timing. The first night in this spot, the sky was gorgeous, the makings of the perfect photograph. Sadly though, I didn’t have the right equipment with me. And, not that the equipment was close by either. No, it was an entire plane ride away. Determined to capture this image, I had the equipment I needed flown out to my location. After receiving the necessary gear, I visited this location five times to capture this shot.

The weather turned for the worst on the second night, which moved into a number of days of bad weather. Which in the middle of the prairies in July, means possible tornadoes and killer sunsets. While most people feel disappointed by prairie tornados, I get over the moon excited for the resulting killer sunsets!

Sure enough, on the fourth day, I stood in place waiting out the tornado storm cell. Completely drenched, I left. With the lighting a little off, I was still unsuccessful in getting this elusive shot. Arriving at my hotel that night, I looked like I’d been standing in a river upside down with my clothes on. I tried to unwind and regroup to try again the following day.

On the fifth and final day the clouds had started to break up earlier in the day. Just as the setting sun was starting to light up the sky, a rain cloud passed overhead in a race towards the horizon.  I managed to just barely avoid getting soaked again, but once that cloud had passed over head it started to rain on the crops in front of me. It was at that time that the rain coming down came in direct contact with the sunlight and lit up the sky beautifully. It was game time!! I had all the equipment I needed. I was in the right spot. Now, it was all down to the shutter!

As I pressed the shutter for one last time that evening, I felt confident knowing my patience would finally pay off. Amazed, I stood there trying to find a balance between enjoying the beauty before me while concentrating on working the shutter and capturing this magnificent scene!