Mt Lemon ~ The Rainbow Over San Pedro

^These rock formations ocurr just before the road bends to Windy Point. They were being silhouetted by a combination of sun and monsoon clouds.  A mostly backlit scene like this rarely takes place in the middle of the day.

^This view from Windy Point looks west. Dark areas in the valley below are being hammered by Monsoon rain. The monsoon season does not treat all parts of southeast Arizona, equally. On this day, several inches of rain fell in South Tucson, while northwest Tucson barely recorded a trace.

^ The rock swirl was likely formed over years of repeated severe weather events, like the storm taking place to the south.

^Despite the harsh weather at Windy Point, Pine and Manzanita trees, seen here, seem to handle the harsh conditions rather well.

^ There is a place in the world for color photography, but when it comes to landscapes, in my view, black and white runs supreme. (If you look closely, you can see part of Tucson skyline in the valley below, right side. )

^ This view looks east from Catalina Highway. Dark clouds and sporadic rainfall frame the top of the image. Landscape photographs that are largely monochromatic, like this one, work very well in color.

^ As I continued my ascent to the top of Mt Lemon, a monsoon cloud passed overhead. I pulled to the side of the road and waited for it to pass. The heavy rain lasted only a few minutes. In this scene, raindrops, coming down this forested mountain side, were backlit by sunlight.

^ As the rain slowed to trickle, I looked into my rear view mirror to see this. I wanted to see if I could capture both ends of the spectrum, so I returned to San Pedro Vista, where I stopped minutes earlier.

^ When I arrived I was pretty excited to see the entire rainbow. I didn’t have my wide angle lens with me, so I panned three shots from one side to the other and stitched them together later, with Photoshop.

^ This is a popular spot for rock climbers and one of the many interesting geological formations, that dot and defy gravity, along Catalina Highway.

^ I can not resist taking pictures of wildflowers. These Divine creations fascinate me! I have accumulated a huge archive of wildflower photos, over the years. I took these and the ones below, during the fading light, at various stops on top of Mt Lemon, except the Thorn-Apple shot, which was taken at a slightly lower elevation.

^ The flora on Mt. Lemon reminds me of New England. Several species that grow here, grow there too.

Nature and landscape photography is where my photography interest began. These early endeavors have made profound influence on the wedding and portrait photography, I would do in later years. In recent months, I have been enjoying spending a day here and there getting reacquainted with my roots. What better place to do that than right here in Tucson, Arizona, where natural beauty abounds.

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. View all posts by Paul Van Helden