Sig Nordal

I took this image this morning while wandering around a new spot among one of my favorite landscapes in Arizona. I had thought about making it up to this area over the last year, and looking at maps and such it was decided I would meet up with a few friends and wander around the desert a bit. After many miles of dirt roads, we found a nice spot to set up camp. A decent view of the mountains in the distance. It is a place where one must hike to get a good vantage of the peaks. After a lackluster sunset, we all decided to try for sunrise. The sky looked bleak at best, clouded over with no gap to be seen for the light to break through. A brief moment of nice pink lit up a small section of clouds, but nothing that would make me run like a mad man around searching for a composition to put together. When it looked like the color was gone, I decided to pack up and start making my way towards this ridge. I noticed one of my friends already making his way up, and figured I would meet him at the top. After climbing up the rocks and thinking I was at the top, there was another dip and another little climb. It was a nice morning hike and when I finally got to the top I had a sigh of relief. I looked in all directions and at the incredible views one is fortunate to see from here. Tiny barrel cactus dotted the ridge line, and they were about as red and saturated as they come, every single one of them. With the sun still behind the clouds, we wandered a bit more up the ridge line finding various foreground elements to be used. Suddenly, this valley started to glow a bit. The sun was forcing it’s way through the clouds to light up this amphitheater of jagged spires and ridges. I decided to take the camera out and try to get a shot of the light. The clouds still had a little drama in them, and mixed with the golden light made for a beautiful scene. The vibrant red barrel cactus added a nice splash of color to the foreground ridge.