Mike Olbinski Photography's photostream  

If you ordered a copy of my Stormchasing Arizona book, or happened to see my Best of 2011, you may have seen this image already.

But it was one of my top five probably from last year's monsoon season, so I felt like it was owed it's own post. Right?

Am I the only one that believes his images have feelings and would feel shunned if they didn't get their own time in the spotlight? I mean, yes, this one made it into the book, but they all know the blog or Flickr is the shiznit. The place you want to be. Where the magic happens.

So ANYWAYS, this is from north of Tucson overlooking a huge cotton field. Awesome storm on the horizon dropping rain. Nothing I like more than a wide vista or landscape with a distant rain storm.

There was also a timelapse to go with this.

I humbly apologize to this image for taking so long to give it the honor it so richly deserved. You weren't forgotten. Just lost in the shuffle. I wont let it happen again.

It's funny. We were freezing cold at Joshua Tree National Park when the sun went down, but then the stars came out and none of that mattered.

My buddy Heath O'Fee found this tree. Earlier the lot of us had been right under it, shooting upwards at the stars while someone light-painted the rocks. We were all having so much fun taking pictures of things we normally do not. The night sky. It's fairly new to me and I want to explore it more.

But then we all kind of dispersed to find our own compositions in and around the rocks. And I found this one. I thought the sky would light up nicely on the horizon because of the far off cities and the sun having gone down earlier. The tree growing between the rocks was pure awesome.

The real treat though...was one of my cohorts doing his own light-painting on the far side of that tree. I decided to take advantage and so I waited for him to take another shot and then I took mine.

No idea who it was, but thank you.

(please click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, canon 17-40 f4 l, b+w ND 10-stop, 19mm, f/22, iso 100, 124sec)

I'm dedicating this photo to my buddy Chris DeAngelis, who let me borrow his 10-stop B+W filter and made all of this possible. He loaned it to me a few times at Bombay Beach, while Rick Young loaned me his over on the west side of the Salton Sea. Thank you guys.

Yes, I'm getting my own. Soon.

Normally if you are by water and pull out a 10-stop, you are hoping to pull off a long enough exposure so that the water becomes a misty looking cloud-like substance hugging rocks, sand, piers, whatever.

But when the body of water you are shooting is already about as calm as glass...the filter enhances that stillness and creates a beautiful, almost mirror-like reflection.

This is an abandoned, calcium-laiden old pier extending out from Bombay Beach. The entire beach area makes for one of the spookiest, weirdest places I've ever been. If it hadn't been for the people I was with, the other tourists and even some photographers shooting models with beauty dishes amongst some trashed buildings, I'd have been pretty frightened about being here solo.

I may have said this on Monday's blog post, but the Salton Sea is a lesson in contradictions. The water was so still, the horizon so smooth, the clouds blended into the water and you felt like you were in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Until you looked down at the fish carcasses or heard the occasional mysterious bubbling from the deep. Or you'd spot these beautiful, white pelicans glancing across the water's surface as they flew by, which made you think about the dead bird laying between all the rotting fish you saw a bit ago.

I had a few people, like Heath O'Fee or Rick, tell me what the place was like before arriving, but you really have no idea until you are standing there yourself.

An abandoned dock with a lone lampost sits on the quiet Salton Sea.

We did a brief 2-day trip to Joshua Tree National Park and then hit Salton Sea the next day.

An amazing trip, this was essentially my final shot.

Felt like we were in a strange world. If you've never seen the Salton Sea before, it's worth a trip.

So proud about this...the February issue is also their Centennial Issue and I couldn't be more proud to have my dust storm image included :)

A huge day for me! Thanks for everyone's support and kind words along the way, they've always helped me!