It was a relief to have two consecutive days of hard rain after one of the worst droughts in the recent history of Santa Fe. Two days earlier Santa Fe received one-third of their average annual rainfall in a few hours, flooding the “City Different”. This afternoon the monsoon-driven thunderstorms were building up again. I contemplated whether or not to go photograph during today’s storms.
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A sky completely covered with clouds usually results in dull grey lighting. If there are gaps in the cloud layers, especially on the western horizon, where sunlight can penetrate and illuminate the undersides of the clouds, amazing lighting can occur. I try to evaluate the conditions each day and predict the sunrise and sunset lighting and color. For me, this is fun as an exercise in science, luck, and photography.
If the conditions look promising in a certain area I consider which scenic foregrounds I can incorporate in the photograph. A form of torture for me is when I am unable to find a beautiful setting while the sky above is on fire or blessed with a rainbow. I know I should “just enjoy the moment”, however as a nature photographer, I admit I am focussed on capturing these moments in a photo. With the skies we get in Northern New Mexico there have been more than a few times when I was situated downtown Santa Fe, surrounded by the inverse of nature, and the sky lit up with incredible color.
New Mexico skies are indeed some of the best in the world, inspiring artists for centuries. Dramatic thunderclouds in the summer are great for photography; even better if they are decorated with a rainbow. If I know where it is raining I can predict where to see a rainbow. A rainbow will be seen at an angle of 41 degrees from the shadow of my head on the ground, if there is rain falling anywhere along that angle, and that rain shower is illuminated by direct sunlight. (Diffuse sunlight, which happens when the sky is covered completely with clouds, does not produce the vibrant rainbows that direct sunlight does).
This afternoon things were looking promising for rainbows as there were well-defined rain showers falling from isolated thunderheads and the sky was clear in the west (i.e. direct sunlight). All I needed to do now was to get between the falling rain to the east and the sun setting in the west. More precisely, I knew that a rainbow would form if there was rain falling in the direction defined by an angle of 41 degrees between the shadow of my head and the rain. The question for me was to where to find a beautiful foreground given the location of the rainstorm and sun.
A small chapel situated next to the iconic Black Mesa at San Ildefonso Pueblo came to mind as a candidate foreground. It was about 15 miles from me. I had to drive through the city of Española to reach this chapel. On the drive, I began to see a bright double rainbow lighting up the sky. I worried that it might be gone by the time I got to the chapel. Española has a lot of character, however, I was looking for a less urban scene decorated with this rainbow. Meanwhile, the rainbow shined brightly above strip malls, mobile homes, and road construction detours on my way to Black Mesa. Given the traffic delays and detours, I started to think this might be one of those times where I strike out. Time was ticking and I hoped the rain shower to the east would last long enough for me to get to the chapel.
Eventually, I passed through Española and was now looking at a rainbow over the beautiful Rio Grande River snaking through the San Ildefonso Pueblo. I set up along the 41-degree angle between my shadow, the small chapel, and the raindrops. The science worked out perfectly, as expected. The chapel and its cemetery (El Campo Santo) were in the shadow of the Jemez Mountains while sunlight lit up the distant badlands (Las Barrancas) and the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background. Luck was in my corner that afternoon as the rainbow continued to shine brightly when I finally reached my calculated location to create the photograph of the chapel and the rainbow.
