This image represents to me a lesson in preparedness. Always carry a camera, so you are prepared for a glorious scene, even if your plans don't include photography.
We were heading out to do some shopping in St. George, driving a little over an hour from Kanab. The route wraps around to the south of Zion National Park, past the Canaan Mountain Wilderness and numerous beautiful buttes along the way. It also includes a distant view of the Pine Valley Mountains north of St. George and Hurricane.
As we were getting ready to head out, my wife said, "Are you going to bring your camera?" Since we have encountered beautiful scenes on other drives while we've been in this part of the country over the winter. I looked at the empty blue sky and the dingy, mostly-melted snow on the ground and said, "Nah, let's go get our errands done.
Given the forecast of clear skies all day, I figured we wouldn't get much interest. But just as we got ready to drive away, I reconsidered, ran upstairs and grabbed my smaller Nikon Zfc with 18-140 zoom, which I use as a travel camera.
As we neared the mountain range, the sky remained mostly clear, but some interesting small clouds were forming just over the ridges, which came and went about our day. After a late lunch/early dinner and nearing the last couple hours of sunset, we started to head back home. As we climbed up out of Hurricane and onto the higher mesas, we looked back toward the northwest and saw this scene. Wave after wave of cirrus clouds filled the entire sky as the lower clouds continued to hug the mountain ridges.
I keep a polarizing lens in each camera bag and the sun angle was perfect for this scene, allowing me to add depth to the blue sky and detail in the wisps of the clouds. We spent the next hour photographing various scenes until dusk. This one is my favorite of the bunch.
Lesson learned, never leave home without a camera!
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