Badlands Vista

Story

The wall, as it is known, in South Dakota’s Badlands National Park, is a nearly impassible and hundreds of miles long. This series of eroded cliffs, some vertical, most merely too steep to climb, is endlessly fascinating, both from a geologic perspective and a photographic perspective. Badlands Vista represents one fantastic moment.

Earlier that day a fierce, and I do mean fierce, a late afternoon storm blew through the park. Coming seemingly out of nowhere, a thunderstorm, replete with lightning and high winds, tore through the park. Eventually, the dark, ominous clouds gave way to lighter, post-storm clouds. Even better, the storm passed just as the sun was setting, providing an opportunity.

Finally, I waited until after the sun had set to create Badlands Vista. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky began to glow in ethereal pinks and purples. Later, the colors grew more intense as each second passed. It was difficult to even breathe, let alone make a photograph.

Yet, I did, and the colors and feeling of that post-storm glow came through!

More from Badlands National Park

You can read the adventure of how I created Badlands Vista.