Arizona Monsoon Season

Several months ago I did an episode of Amphibicast hosted by Dan Drobates, and he asked me my favorite photography subject.  With little hesitation, I told him that I love shooting sweeping landscapes with an ultra wide angle lens.  My go-to lens for landscapes is the Canon RF 15-35mm F/2.8L IS USM lens.  It will always be in my camera bag, and I actually use it as my walkaround lens sometimes.  It’s a workhorse, and it produces stunning images.

I used to make a yearly pilgrimage to southeastern Arizona to photograph crazy weather patterns and unique nature during monsoon season, which takes place typically between the middle to end of June until about the end of September.  A shift in wind patterns brings moist air from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico (not the Gulf of America!) into Arizona.  The combination of heat and moisture are perfect for thunderstorm development.  Some of my best landscape photography work has been from my trips to Arizona during monsoon season.  It’s also an incredible time to go herping, which is the other primary reason I take the trips.

The photograph pictured is on the road to the Chiricahua Mountains outside of Wilcox, Arizona.  I was retuning to my campsite after a day of looking for reptiles and amphibians in the area when I spotted this gloriousness in my rearview mirror.  I immediately pulled my car over to grab my tripod and camera.  Unfortunately, I tripped when I got out of my car and slammed my tripod on the ground.  D’oh!  It broke one of the legs of my tripod, so I fumbled around to figure out how I was going to stabilize my camera to photograph the sun setting behind a rain squall.  I found a spot on my car that I was able to set the camera on and stabilize it to get this shot.  It worked!  This is still one of my my favor shots.