Believe it or not, it is water! And yes, it was literally that red, no photo editing has been done to this image. So how could rain water appear that red? It requires a rare set of conditions where the sun has long set over the surrounding land but it is still shining on the tops of the giant monsoon clouds, tens of thousands of feet above. The diffuse red light then illuminates down through the clouds and into the rain curtains. It was a haunting sight that we will never forget! And then moments later bolts of lightning began striking down through it all! Today we have officially launched page 3 of our store. This has been about 6 months in the making beginning with searching through our extensive library of thousands of photos to choose the top ones, whittling those down to just eighty, putting them through the process of preparing for display, creating the website pages for each, placing the images in each, and finally publishing them. This has required hundreds of hours of preparation time, so we are glad it is done. In honor of the launch of page 3, we are presenting the above image that was part of the series captured at very late sunset that included this stunning lightning photo available for sale on page 3 as well as this breathtaking lightning photo available for sale on page 1 of our store. The Wild Images Team has captured many other photos in Arizona, such as the colorful storm buildup in the painted desert, the stark view of an incredibly tall monsoon cloud over desert, the sky covering massive anvil cloud over the mountains, the isolation in the curtains of rain over the Navajo Nation, the deep red lightning scene in the Mazatzals, the moment Zeus throws a bolt over Cave Creek, the network of colorful bolts over the Sedona ridges, the rainfall created colorful dry wash in bloom, the dangerous stripe-tailed scorpion climbing plants, the deep desert late night glowing bark scorpions, the dynamic image of a honeybee on an exotic wildflower, the view of a hummingbird among the thick wildflowers, a lucky shot of a great horned owl roosting in mesquite tree, the evening view of an organ pipe cactus, the serene scene of ocotillos and saguaro cacti, the view from Bell Rock of scrub brush and phenomenally colorful cliffs, this precarious Wupatki box canyon dwelling, a look up at the very majestic Wukoki Pueblo ruins, a chance encounter with a thunderstorm through a Wukoki Pueblo window, and the spiny sharp glass sculpture with cacti, each of which are available for sale in our store. Our blog posts from Arizona have documented the close up of a large stripe-tailed scorpion, the animated behavior of a great horned owl, the nearly daily encounters with the multitude of rattlesnakes, the mysterious darkness created by a very prominent Alexander’s Band between two brilliant rainbows, the crazy late sunset when red rain fell over the Mazatzal Mountains, monsoon season forming rain curtains hanging in front of the sunset, the sunset moment when delicate rain curtains fell in front of a darkening sky, spring rainfall creating a colorful desert bloom in a dry wash, the dynamic view of a honeybee equipped with dual pollen baskets among the blooms, the red sunlit clouds with a rainbow over the foothills of Black Mountain, the massive spectacle of a giant spiderweb of lightning over Black Mountain, near Sedona where red cliffs are framed by cane chollas, the reddish glow of sunset lighting an organ pipe cactus, the precarious location of the cliff edge Box Canyon ruins, the strategic location of the majestic Montezuma Castle Sinagua dwellings, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina at a scenic Grand Canyon overlook, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina in front of the Wupatki Pueblo, The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina at the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tombstone and the Original Bird Cage Theatre history, its interior eponymic Bird Cage balcony seats, its secretive hidden door beneath the stage, through which lies the underground hidden gambling room, next to a hidden room for a lady of the night, the OK Corral Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp and Wyatt Earp and their gun fight with Tom McClaury, Frank McClaury, and Billy Clanton, the Boothill Graveyard headstone of Lester Moore and the headstone of John Heath, the reflective multicolored boatload of glass, the mass of blue and white glass atop a wall, the lighted view of purple stem vegetation glass, the lighted view of red stem vegetation glass, the closer view of the textures and shapes of Chihuly glass, the overlook view of Comet Neowise with a saguaro, which was brightly shining over the town of Cave Creek, eventually with its bright green coma and tail, as it appears to drop down into a saguaro grove, the day when rare snow fell in the Sonoran Desert and covered Black Mountain in a white blanket, the weeks of a devastating large record setting Bush Fire that continuously raged through the Superstition Mountains, the day when the Aquila Fire burned through Desert Hills causing massive destruction to a few structures, the day that the East Desert Fire nearly burned into the Cave Creek area, and then two weeks later the day when the devastating Ocotillo Fire did burn down into and throughout the estates which were protected by spectacular firefighting around the town of Cave Creek leaving behind this iconic image.
To see more photos, please visit our store