Photo Articles and Documentaries by Tucson Photographer Paul Van Helden
Monsoon Mountains
TUCSON, ARIZONA – To the unfamiliar, mention the words summer in Tucson, Arizona, visions of an arid desert and vapors of dry heat usually come to mind. Most outsiders would be surprised to learn that summer is actually the time of year when this region gets most of its annual rainfall. It is also when the surrounding desert is the greenest.
To Tucsonans, summertime is synonymous with the Monsoon Season, an ebb and flow of thunderstorms that provide much needed rain, cool relief and an awesome spectacle that slowly concludes, with the summer heat, near the end of September.
I love being outdoors, in the wilderness. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise, that Monsoon storms fascinate me! One of my ambitions is to one-day concentrate an entire summer, photographing them exclusively. Until then, random serendipitous moments, like the half-hour depicted in the photos below, will have to do for now.
When I arrived a trailhead, west of the Santa Catalina Mountains, an eeriness began to loom overhead.I observed these cloud clusters build quickly, overhead and to the south, like dishwashing detergent under running water.A spotty monsoon storm dumps rain in one spot, while leaving areas around it dry, waiting for the next round to arrive.One storm ends, while another one begins to form. As the sun sets, the clouds turn orange.Monsoon clouds in the distance appear as reversed ridges of the Catalina’s Mountains, silhouetted in the foreground.
Looking west, a Monsoon cloud forms, like a giant mushroom. If you look closely, a sliver of the moon is recognizable to the top right.
Darkness DescendsIt was almost complete nightfall, when I took this image. A lighting bolt, above the clouds, created the bright area. Rain makes landfall, to the left.
All previous images are from August 19. I took the two images below on August 31. I decided to include them here, as the theme is similar.
Remnant Monsoon clouds, hover over the Catalina’s at sunset. Most of the precipitation has already been drained out of them.
Many of the previous images feature the Santa Catalina Mountains, western slopes, viewed from the valley below. I took the image below, while atop of the Catalina’s on September 2. It looks west, to the Tucson Mountains and vividly depicts the conclusion to an active day of Monsoon showers.
Monsoon Horizon
Signed Limited Edition prints will be made available for “Monsoon Horizon”. Contact Paul for information.
Author: Paul Van Helden
Paul Van Helden is a professional headshot, portraits, event, nature, still life and landscape photographer, based in Tucson Arizona. Some of his published credits include The Valley Wedding Pages and Sierra Club.
Paul has worked professionally for over thirty years. Biologist and nature photographer Fred Dodd Jr. first introduced him to photography in 1982. Later, Paul studied photography at Dean College and began to photograph weddings under the tutelage of Craig Roberts of Franklin, Massachusetts. After working as a freelance wedding specialist for five years, he started his own photography business in Bellingham, Massachusetts in 1995. In December of 2004, he moved to the American Southwest, a part of the country he fell in love with, when he first visited the region in 1984.
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