Every now and then photographers have days when they want to take photos but inspiration is nowhere to be found. Today was such a day, at least for the first half, which included a 30 mile drive in the countryside around Murfreesboro. I was "chasing" a summer storm in hopes that I could either see a rainbow or take photos in the many places that I drove by other times and thought to myself "this would look great if there were storm clouds in the background and sun shining right on it". Needless to say, none of that happened. I came home and I almost felt angry at myself for not being able to come up with a decent photo after two hours of driving and waiting for clouds to pass by.

However, a couple of hours later I went to check our mailbox, and saw the most amazing cloud I have ever seen, right behind our house. The sky was deep blue and the cloud was almost twice the size of what you see in the photo. It was like a humongous monster against a blue background. It took me about five minutes to drive to the nearest water pond (which is basically a big field behind MTSU that is filled with rain water throughout the year), and about ten more minutest to take photos, after which the cloud became too small and uninteresting.

I don't expect for most of you to understand the excitement I felt when I took this photo, but if you are a photographer living in this area, you know that in the Summer, the sky doesn't turn this blue in Middle Tennessee. Not to mention the clouds, which are non existent - all we have most of the day is a nice, hot, annoying haze all over the sky. The clouds and the blue sky combined with the deep sense of artistic failure I felt earlier today, make the most rewarding experience as a photographer :). If you don't believe me, buy a camera, spend endless hours chasing light, and you'll understand ;).

Anyway, enough rambling... the photo itself: shot at f/11, 1/160s, ISO 200 with a Nikon D300 and Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. Although the original was pretty much what you see in the posted version, I cheated a little and used portions of over/under-exposed photos I took at the same time. This allowed me to have a more balanced light throughout the photo and still keep the details in the clouds and darker areas (especially in the low portion of the photo). Should the clouds have lasted for another half an hour or so, I could have nailed this shot without having to use the other bracketed shots to fill in the clouds. In any case, you can see the file I edited after RAW conversion here.

I know this Summer has been uneventful for The Obvious, but it has been quite the opposite for our family. We have been through some of the toughest times emotionally, as well as many unexpected good news and blessings. As Fall gets closer and closer, I am beginning to plan a couple of day trips to parks around the Middle Tennessee area, which means that I will (fingers crossed) have quite a bit of colorful material to post. Thanks for stopping by!

Titus