This shot is looking toward Salt Lake City from the west side of Antelope Island (the city is behind the hills). The storm was quite powerful so it generated some nice clouds. I even managed to capture a rainbow in this shot. Once the storm hit me it actually blew my Manfrotto tripod over. Fortunately I had my camera off the tripod at the time but I was pelted by rain and hail. I think the shot is worth it, though.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the little brown specks in the shot are the bison that passed me on the trail.

The family went to a farm in (of all places) Farmington to get some pumpkins for Halloween. Our kids love to take this trip and the farm no doubt rakes in the cash. They have horse rides, tractor rides, mazes, and other activities. It’s a nice day for the family - especially the kids.

As we were leaving the farm I noticed a huge patch of sunflowers, most of which were in good shape (I wasn’t at all interested in “cleaning up” a beat up flower in Photoshop). There was quite a bit of wind and, due to the location of the flower I chose, I had to hand hold the shot (I usually use a tripod). I also had a polarizing filter on my lens to increase color saturation and contrast, which cost me a couple of stops. I had to hold the flower still with my left hand while shooting with my right.

The crop of the flower was intentional. I liked the way the yellow of the flower played with the blue of the sky and green of the background vegetation so I pushed the flower to the left of the frame. I also think the framing makes the image a bit more unique than the cliched sunflower shots I usually see.

My favorite photographs usually have a bluish hue to them and are either taken at dawn or dusk. There is a brief period of time where nature creates some beautiful blues and purples.

I took this only about three feet from the reflecting pond just to the east of the temple (you can see it in the foreground). By using a wide angle lens I was able to get a lot into the shot, from the reflecting pool to the temple and sky.

The sky is what makes this photo for me. I really like the way the clouds are situated and how they almost surround the temple. The fact that they are reflecting a nice purple color adds to the overall feel for me as well.

Due to my close proximity to the temple and the wide angle focal length used, I had to adjust the image for perspective in Photoshop, thus a bit got cropped.

I often get asked whether the colors seen in the photo are real. Of course, color is a somewhat subjective thing as each person’s eye perceives color a bit differently, but the colors are true to what I saw. The bright orange along the horizon was caused by the sunlight reflecting off the clouds of dirt being blown in from the west desert.

As we were leaving the cabin for one of the evenings I saw that there would be a break in the clouds as the sun set over Henry’s Lake so I stopped to take photos. I took a bunch of photos as the sun set but this was the one I liked best.

The moon was shining from outside and to the upper-left of the frame. The bright streak in the sky was from Venus and the odd colorization above the river is from moonlight reflecting off the mist that was rising from the river.

The most difficult thing about this photo was waiting for a break from the numerous fish in the river rolling and creating ripples. I wanted as much of a calm river as I could get.