Stormy Sandstone Sea

 

Stormy Sandstone Sea landscape photo by Dan Bourque

Light and shadow on waves of red and purple sandstone resembling a tossing sea.

Details: the slot canyons of northern Arizona are incredible. The narrow openings cause the light and shadows to fall in unique and dramatic ways that change throughout the day and accentuate the already mesmerizing lines and flowing curves of the sandstone. These are truly magical places!

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Walls of Mordor

 

Walls of Mordor landscape photo by Dan Bourque

The last rays of the setting sun illuminate the cloud-topped jagged peaks of the Teton Range.

Details: when my son first saw the Teton Range, he said “they look like fairy tale mountains,” and this image shows why. Like something out of an epic fable, the glacier-carved peaks of the range rise at dramatic angles showing off their jagged edges and deep valleys. This shot captures Teewinot, a cloud-topped Grand Teton, and Mount Owen on the far side of Cascade Canyon from Jenny Lake. The Ansel Adams inspired black-and-white just seemed fitting for this picture.

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Sunset Over Cathedral Spires

The setting sun illuminates purple storm clouds overlooking Colorado’s Cathedral Spires in the distance.

Details: Storms are always a mixed blessing in photography. They can literally rain on your parade, but they can also create immense drama and beauty. This storm rained on my camping trip near Bailey, Colorado, but its parting gift was a brilliant show of purples, pinks and oranges as the sun shone in the narrow window between the mountains and the storm. The layers of mountains crowned by the rugged peaks of the Cathedral Spires add more beauty to this incredible scene.

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Storm Over Sylvan Lake

Storm Over Sylvan Lake landscape photo by Dan Bourque

Summer storm clouds threaten to erase a perfect reflection of the granite shores of Sylvan Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Details: Sylvan Lake, situated in the Needles area of the Black Hills in Custer State Park, is an amazing and picturesque place. Summer brings storms, though, and this one was brewing early. Thankfully the wind held off for another 10 minutes before creating waves and erasing this scene.

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Springs Sunset Skyline

Springs Sunset Skyline

The lights of Colorado Springs come to life as evening clouds make way for the last light of sunset

Details: I wanted to explore a new vista overlooking Colorado Springs, Colorado, so I chose to hike the High Chaparral Open Space. I got rained on for most of the hike, and the clouds hid the best of the sunset, but it was still a nice hike. As the light was fading to almost nothing, I was able to grab this long-exposure shot which allowed the lights of town and details of the moving clouds to really shine with the silhouette of Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain as a great backdrop.

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Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock landscape photo by Dan Bourque

The twin spires of Chimney Rock stand against a deep blue sky on a summer day in Colorado.

Details: Chimney Rock National Monument is a little-known site in the southern San Juan mountains of Colorado. It was home not only to these unique spire rock formations for which it was named, but it’s home to ancient puebloan ruins set atop a high ridge and surrounded by incredible scenery. While I love how blue the skies in Colorado can be, I love the drama created by the storm clouds that were just starting to roll in.

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Potomac Peace

Potomac Peace landscape photo by Dan Bourque

The sun sets behind a clearing storm over a peaceful and reflective Potomac River.

Details: The Potomac River, which divides Virginia from Maryland can be a very peaceful place even a few miles from downtown Washington, D.C. This image was captured from Piscataway Park, a National Park Service site on the Maryland side of the river. Conditions just an hour earlier were horrendous for photography with complete overcast and walls of rain, but this image is evidence that sticking it out through the bad weather sometimes (not always) yields the most spectacular results.

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Sun Under the Storm

Sun Under the Storm landscape photo by Dan Bourque

The setting sun peeks under ominous clouds to light up “America’s Mountain” in central Colorado.

Details: It was an overcast evening, but I saw this scene forming when a little blue sky started opening up on the horizon which would give the sun just a little space to get under the building storm clouds. Sure enough, a few minutes after I’d set the camera up, the sun poured through for just a few brief moments illuminating Pikes Peak and nearby Blodgett Peak near Colorado Springs.

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Under the Weather

Under the Weather landscape photo by Dan Bourque

A storm rolls over the Continental Divide at sunset in Colorado.

Details: this winter hasn’t been very cooperative for photography in Colorado (very little snow), but if you look in the right place at the right time, you can still catch some of winters glory at the higher elevations. This is the Sawatch Range near Monarch Pass in central Colorado in January. The clouds were just right to obscure the peaks but still reflect some of the sun’s dwindling light onto the snowy flanks of the Continental Divide. It was sublime!

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Sunset Sky over Salida

Brilliant Skies over Salida panoramic landscape photo by Dan BourqueThe setting sun lights up the clouds of a passing storm above the western edge of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.

Details: Sometimes you have to look behind you to find the amazing. While most sunset photos look west, this was the view to the east on a stormy evening near Salida, Colorado when the sun peeked through and lit up the passing storm beautifully.

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The Fence and the Storm

The Fence and the Storm landscape photo by Dan Bourque

The evening sun illuminates golden summer grass under a dramatic storm in central Colorado.

Details: There’s something about storms that captures my imagination as a photographer. I love trying to capture the immensity and drama they bring, especially in Colorado where such storms can be seen from miles away in the open country between the mountains. This image of a storm that passed just north of me was taken adjacent to a ranch in Poncha Springs, Colorado with Mount Princeton visible on the left.

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Desert Contrast

 

Desert Contrast landscape panorama by Dan BourqueA desert storm leaves a contrast of colors and climates at sunset over Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

Details: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada is one of my favorite places in the west because it’s a land of contrasts. In this scene, a storm has just covered the tall mountains on the right with a layer of snow, while the desert floor remains warm with color. This is a composite carefully stitched from six individual photos to capture this entire dramatic scene from east to west.

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Power on Display

Power on Display lightning photography by Dan Bourque

A magnificent lightning bolt lights up the night sky above Colorado Springs.

Details: few things are a more irresistible subject for photography for me than an active thunderstorm at night. This particular storm was amazing with flashes going off inside the storm every several seconds. Only a small fraction of the bolts exited the storm, so I was fortunate to be able to grab this shot. If you’re going to try this at home, remember basic lightning safety, especially if the storm is headed in your direction.

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Glorious Symphony of Earth and Sky

 

Glorious Symphony of Earth and Sky landscape photo by Dan BourqueAn incredible sunset unfolds over two natural icons of central Colorado, Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak.

Details: this was one of those amazing evenings when you’re glad you took a chance on the weather. I was driving through rain to get to this spot, and after hiking down into this field, the skies opened up and soon displayed this masterpiece. A wide-angle lens was essential to getting this big sky into a single frame. This image is captured in HDR to preserve the delicate details in the sky and shadows.

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Midnight Storm Approaching

Midnight Storm Approaching landscape photo by Dan Bourque

A thunderstorm builds at midnight over blooming yuccas in central Colorado.

Details: I love night photography, and thunderstorms are some of my favorite subjects. This storm was amazing, flashing with lightning about once a second, but very few broke out of the clouds, so I was fortunate to capture this bolt. A full moon behind me lit up the clouds above the storm and the blowing prairie in front of me.

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Spotlight from Heaven

Spotlight from Heaven landscape photo by Dan Bourque

A ray of bright sunlight highlights the central formations at Garden of the Gods on a stormy spring day in Colorado.

Details: Garden of the Gods is one of my favorite places to photograph for obvious reasons, and a photo like this with parts of the rock formations in sun and parts in shadow has eluded me for years. This shot was taken shortly after a passing storm when the clouds were still thick to the west where the sun was just above the horizon. It took about half an hour of sitting with my finger on the shutter trigger in this spot to capture the light as you see here with just the central area lit in bright sunlight.

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Promise of the Parting Storm

Promise of the Parting Storm landscape photo by Dan Bourque

A parting evening storm leaves a rainbow dividing blue sky from rain over Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado.

Details: a thunderstorm is generally not the best time to be out with the camera and a metal tripod, but right after the storm clears is usually an awesome time to photograph the majesty and power of nature. This storm was intense and left me huddling under the overhang of a park bathroom, but after it moved past, it left some incredible clouds and a rainbow. Being up on Cheyenne Mountain offered the perfect vantage point to capture everything, and the unseasonable green of the landscape testifies to the unusual amount of rain we had in late spring.

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Cabin Reflection After the Storm

Cabin Reflection After the Storm landscape photo by Dan Bourque

Storm clouds part to reveal an idyllic Colorado cabin reflected in an alpine lake.

Details: I love photographing water, especially the peaceful look of lakes with subtle ripples and great reflections. This scene was captured at Sawmill Reservoir near the town of Breckenridge in the Colorado Rockies. Ten minutes before, there was no sky and sun, but the clouds parted just as the sunset was beginning, and the winds from the evening storm died down to create the calm waters. This image was captured in HDR to preserve the detail in the shadows and highlights in the scene.

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High Desert Sunset

High Desert Sunset landscape photo by Dan Bourque

A world of contrasts is captured at sunset in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada.

Details: This is one of my personal favorites because it captures the extremes of the high desert in beautiful Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada. The passing storm has left a layer of snow over the peaks of the Red Rock Escarpment, but down below, the desert is still warm and dry. The sky seems to reflect this transition with the peaks covered in deep blues and the desert in the pinks and purples of sunset.

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Gathering Storm over the Desert

Gathering Storm over the Desert landscape photo by Dan BourqueBrooding storm clouds reflect the setting sun over Red Rock Canyon in Nevada.

Details: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is an amazing place, especially when there’s a storm nearby adding an amazing sky to the amazing rocks. This one was moving fast, and the scattered clouds were an incredible mix of light and dark as they shadowed each other and reflected the sun with the red cast of sunset. The colorful rock formation is the area known as “Calico” for obvious reasons.

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Evening Storm Approaching

Evening Storm Approaching landscape photo by Dan BourqueAn old twisted tree on a mountaintop stands boldly in the face of an approaching storm after sunset in the Rocky Mountains.

Details: Just after sunset is an awesome time for photography as you can extend the exposures and open up some awesome possibilities for an image. In this case, an approaching thunderstorm brings fast moving clouds lit purple from the day’s last light, and a lightning bolt adds the glow behind the tree.  This scene was captured on top of Grouse Mountain in Mueller State Park, Colorado.

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Lightning and the Elephant

Lightning and the Elephant landscape lightning photo by Dan BourqueLightning bursts over Elephant Rock at night in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Details: Valley of Fire, northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, is one of the neatest State Parks I’ve ever been to–it’s chock full of red sandstone formations and arches like aptly named Elephant Rock seen here. I came to this spot hoping for some good Milky Way shots, but an unexpected evening storm made an even more amazing backdrop for this cool scene. This image took nearly an hour of patient shooting of long exposures to get the dramatic bolt seen here. Because the night was pitch black in-between strikes, I used a technique called “light painting” to capture the detail of the rock formation–it’s a manual process and tedious when you’re taking dozens of long-exposure shots, but in this case it was well worth it!

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Valley of Fire and Lightning

Valley of Fire and Lightning landscape photo by Dan BourqueA lightning bolt adds powerful color to the sunset over Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

Details: Shooting lightning is an exercise in both speed and patience, but the results can be very rewarding. Because of the low light, I was able to take long exposures and hope for a good strike. There were many failures before this success! Believe it or not, there is very little color manipulation in the image–the lightning was indeed pink which made it a perfect compliment to the sunset! This scene was captured on a July evening at Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park near Lake Mead.

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Ranges over Ridgway

Ranges over Ridgway landscape photo by Dan BourqueThe last light of the setting sun illuminates the San Juan Mountains over Ridgway Reservoir in Colorado.

Details: Ridgway State Park, in southwestern Colorado, is a magnificent place surrounded by Colorado’s most beautiful mountain ranges. In this August sunset view, the Cimarrons to the east (left) are lit up brilliant red as are the the edges of the San Juans to the south as an evening storm delivers a bit of rain behind the peaks. To get this shot, I climbed out onto the edge of a cliff with my tripod just barely hanging on. This red glow on the otherwise gray mountains lasts only a few minutes each day.

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Sunset over the Air Force Academy

 

Sunset Over the Air Force Academy landscape photo by Dan BourqueA stormy sunset illuminates the summer sky above the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Details: The United States Air Force Academy is a beautiful place set up against the mountains. This view is from a trail overlooking the 11th fairway of the Eisenhower Golf Course’s Silver Course, and the cadet area and distinctive chapel can be seen on the ridge. A wetter-than-usual summer brought a lot more green than brown to this scene, and the purple and orange sky provides a perfect compliment to the beautiful landscape.

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Summer Evening

Summer Evening photo by Dan BourqueLate evening clouds silhouette a beckoning hammock on a summer night in Colorado.

Details: I was at a friend’s home near Colorado Springs, and we were talking about photography and playing around with cameras in his backyard. The sun had just set behind low storm clouds giving them a surreal orange and purple coloration, and the intricate silhouette of the hammock against the sky was too much to resist. Despite the recent rain and occasional roll of thunder in the distance, this scene speaks of serenity, just like a lazy summer evening should.

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Heavens Rolled Back

Heavens Rolled Back landscape photo of Garden of the Gods by Dan Bourque

Rolling clouds burst over the setting sun and Garden of the Gods.

Details: In Colorado, there’s a saying “if you don’t like the weather, just wait 10 minutes.” Only an hour before this shot was taken on a June evening in Colorado Springs, the sky was completely overcast, and I was hunkered down in my car in a parking lot in Garden of the Gods to escape the rain and lightning. I was just beginning to think this evening was a lost cause, but as so often happens in Colorado, in a matter of minutes the sun came out, the clouds began to clear, and after a little hiking, I was able to catch this amazing sunset! This image was captured in HDR to preserve the delicate highlight and shadow detail in this scene.

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Harmony on the Cliffs

Harmony on the Cliffs landscape photo by Dan BourqueA couple watches the setting sun from the top of the Sunset Cliffs in California.

Details: This is one of my favorites because it captures so many elements in one photo. The brooding sky and waters add contrast to the light peeking through on the horizon, a wave leaves its soft trail at the base of the cliffs, and a couple perched perfectly on the rocks gives an accurate sense of scale to this scene at Sunset Cliffs near San Diego, California. I was perched precariously at the top of a 60-foot cliff, and the wind made it feel all the more tenuous, but I love the scene!

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Glory Behind the Rocks

Glory Behind the Rocks

A heavenly swirl of storm clouds and golden linings shines from behind the brilliant red formations of Garden of the Gods in Colorado.

Details:  This photo was taken from a seldom-traveled trail on the east side of Garden of the Gods Park near Colorado Springs. I was just hiking by on my way up to a ridge but was struck by the dramatic scene with the storm clouds and sun hiding just behind the Kissing Camels formation. To capture the shadow detail in this heavily back-lit scene, I shot three exposures and blended them using a technique called HDR to preserve the detail and color.

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Gulf Sunset Lined in Gold

Gulf Sunset Lined in Gold

The setting sun over the Gulf of Mexico leaves golden rays and cloud linings around purple storm clouds.

Details: the sun is just on the horizon, but a building storm over the water blocks it from view, but the evidence it leaves in the amazing outlines of towering clouds adds a sense of drama and heavenly majesty to an already impressive scene taken from the north end of Florida’s Ana Maria Island on the Gulf Coast.

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Lightning Strike on the Peak at Sunset

Lightning Strike on the Peak at Sunset

A bolt of lightning strikes the shoulder of Pikes Peak from purple clouds trying to extinguish the orange glow of sunset over Garden of the Gods.

Details: lightning bolts are difficult to capture, but this one near Colorado Springs cooperated nicely against the sunset just peeking in under the storm. Pikes Peak in its purple glory is clearly seen from the Garden of the Gods where this was taken. I got soaked on the hike back to my car, but it was worth it! This HDR image combines three different exposures of the same scene to capture and preserve shadow and highlight detail.

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  • All images and graphics are the property of the photographer and should not be used without permission. All Images copyright Dan Bourque