Texas' extreme weather patterns makes the blood race in my veins
Those who know me well realize how gratifying it is for me when I stumble across a photographic gem of an opportunity rather than stage one.
Texas' extreme weather patterns will usually make the blood race in my veins, and make my heart pound. It's those one-of-a-kind opportunities that others either take for granted, or will not take the time to truly appreciate that I search out. Such was the case yesterday on returning from a visit to see our daughters at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
I awoke to '...great weather', telling my wife that the cloudy skies outside should make for some great photography on our 6-hour drive back to Fort Worth.
Within moments we were immersed in a freak west Texas dust storm!
Plotting our route using Mapquest, traveling only the back roads, I decided to travel due south via Lamesa, then eastward on route 180 via Weat
herford. As we approached rural Lamesa, I thought to myself, "...that's strange, it's so smoggy here, but all I see is ranch land and no industry". Within moments we were immersed in the reason for the 'smog'. We were in the middle of a freak west Texas dust storm!
Now, being a Yankee, I had only read about these famed storms in books or magazines. I can remember seeing photos of massive dusty storm fronts moving across the plains. They were intimidating to say the least; a big, brown haze moving towards you.
Truly fascinating, I felt obligated to document it.
Although the storm we experienced had probably gone completely unnoticed by the locals, and true Texans, I found the weather event truly fascinating. This by no means was a huge dust storm, but it was indeed a real dust storm, and I felt obligated to document it! Here within lies the challenge of a photographer:
No warning, limited equipment and little time to quickly gather as many images as possible, all the while trying to capture the true look and feel of something that many people have only read about.
The drought and gusting winds combined to make the perfect dust storm conditions.
Driving through Dawson County, you could see miles of cotton fields, all harvested for the season, leaving only the short, orderly, barren sticks of the cotton plants behind in the fields. This area is experiencing a dry winter, and this day was windy! It was difficult to
keep the car on the road, with heavy gusting sometimes blowing you either off to the side of the road, or into oncoming traffic. The drought and the wind combined to make perfect dust storm conditions.
I stood outside to capture images of blowing dust and tumbleweeds.
At one point, I stopped the car and stood outside to try to capture images of blowing dust and tumbleweeds. If only I could have captured the sound of the wind howling miles off in the distance, the whirring sound of the telephone lines bouncing up and down as the wind passed through them, and the grit in my teeth and eyes! It was just ano
ther '...one of those days' as I call them, when one can feel all alone, in the middle of nowhere, man
against the elements. This has happened to me several times driving between Fort Worth and Lubbock. I always look forward to these drives, and try to plan them during bad weather.
Of course, in hindsight, had I had more time to think about how to shoot this weather event, I might have done some things differently. But, sometimes too much thought can be a bad thing, and you just need to go with your gut reaction so that you don't miss something. Here are several photos taken during yesterday's dust storm...I hope you enjoy them as much as I did shooting them.
View larger images in the short slideshow below:
Those who know me well realize how gratifying it is for me when I stumble across a photographic gem of an opportunity rather than stage one.
I awoke to '...great weather', telling my wife that the cloudy skies outside should make for some great photography on our 6-hour drive back to Fort Worth.
Within moments we were immersed in a freak west Texas dust storm!
Plotting our route using Mapquest, traveling only the back roads, I decided to travel due south via Lamesa, then eastward on route 180 via Weat
Now, being a Yankee, I had only read about these famed storms in books or magazines. I can remember seeing photos of massive dusty storm fronts moving across the plains. They were intimidating to say the least; a big, brown haze moving towards you.
Truly fascinating, I felt obligated to document it.
Although the storm we experienced had probably gone completely unnoticed by the locals, and true Texans, I found the weather event truly fascinating. This by no means was a huge dust storm, but it was indeed a real dust storm, and I felt obligated to document it! Here within lies the challenge of a photographer:
The drought and gusting winds combined to make the perfect dust storm conditions.
Driving through Dawson County, you could see miles of cotton fields, all harvested for the season, leaving only the short, orderly, barren sticks of the cotton plants behind in the fields. This area is experiencing a dry winter, and this day was windy! It was difficult to
I stood outside to capture images of blowing dust and tumbleweeds.
At one point, I stopped the car and stood outside to try to capture images of blowing dust and tumbleweeds. If only I could have captured the sound of the wind howling miles off in the distance, the whirring sound of the telephone lines bouncing up and down as the wind passed through them, and the grit in my teeth and eyes! It was just ano
Of course, in hindsight, had I had more time to think about how to shoot this weather event, I might have done some things differently. But, sometimes too much thought can be a bad thing, and you just need to go with your gut reaction so that you don't miss something. Here are several photos taken during yesterday's dust storm...I hope you enjoy them as much as I did shooting them.
View larger images in the short slideshow below:
