Under the Storm Ceiling
Photographed at 28mm, this wide view shifts the balance of the landscape toward the enormous storm-filled sky. The intensely localized bloom of California poppies, goldfields and gray rabbitbrush occupies only a narrow portion of the frame while layered clouds spread across nearly the entire valley. The immense scale of the storm transforms the bloom from the dominant feature of the landscape into a narrow ribbon of color beneath the darkening sky.
As the weather continued to change, I wanted to step away from the more concentrated views of the flowers and show just how enormous the sky had become over this small bloom. At 28mm, the relationship changed completely. The flowers became a thin band across the bottom of the frame while the storm seemed to fill nearly everything above them.
It was still the same California poppies, goldfields and gray rabbitbrush I had come to photograph, but beneath this massive ceiling of cloud the scale of the landscape felt entirely different. The bloom that had been so visually dominant under clear skies now seemed small against the weather moving across the valley.
That contrast became the reason for making this photograph. The micro bloom remained the anchor of the scene, but the sky had taken command. For a short time, an isolated patch of flowers and an immense storm occupied the same landscape, each making the scale of the other more apparent.