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Christoph Stopka
Wet Mountains of Colorado
07/08/2023
09:03 pm

Equipment Details:

Nikon D 850, Sigma Art 24-70mm (set at 70mm), Tripod

Post-processing Details:

Only minor adjustments in Lightroom

Image Details:

Even though Colorado's summer monsoon season was a bit quieter yesterday/Saturday with only a few big storms forming, instead of the usual statewide deluge, this particular storm delivered a big bunch to the people living outside the town of Pueblo in the foothills of the Wet Mountain range. Right around sunset time the storm unleashed its immense fury with relentless lightning, emanating from the inside of the big vapor plume and dumping torrential rain and hail. After a while the drifting cloud got hung up on the 12,000 ft high ridgeline of the Wet Mountains, which actually opened up a large gap in the blue-pink-purple cloud and allowed getting a glimpse of the inside of the cloud's belly - the supercharged birthplace of the lightning bolts.
To me, this image feels like a reverse version of a cathedral: Usually, the inside of a cathedral (or mosque) is a place of refuge from the turmoil outside. But in this case, the roles are reversed - serenity on the outside including the first stars twinkling overhead, in contrast to the huge lightning bolts sizzling inside the cloud's gigantic open space.