The Eye in the Sky

Sometimes the sky does something completely unexpected. Something I have never seen before, even though I have been photographing the sky and - especially clouds - for quite a few years and I even have published photo/coffee table books on clouds. Bottom line: I love clouds. Not surprisingly, occasionally I find myself thinking, that I have by now seen pretty much everything there is to experience when it comes to clouds. Additionally, my home base in Colorado is close to three of the largest, highest and most dramatic valleys in all of North America. These valleys produce every day some of the most spectacular cloudscapes, which still amaze me on a regular basis., leaving me simply awestruck.
And yesterday I experienced such a profound moment. When the skies created a beautiful display, which was quite honestly on the edge between stunning and downright frightening: After having had blue skies all day long, clouds had moved in, forming a thick layer above the Spanish Peaks located in the center of the Cuchara Valley, more than 13,000 feet high and visible from great distances - which made these two mountains some of Colorado’s most famous peaks. I decided to take a few photos with my 600mm lens across the long range (about 55 miles from our house), because the Spanish Peaks looked pretty dramatic since they were still somehow catching light from the sun, despite the cloud cover. I started shooting away, when suddenly a dark area in the sky right above (or at least very close to the Spanish Peaks broke open, revealing a large, blue hole in sky, which was changing rapidly in the viewfinder, widening and shifting, until took on the shape of huge „Eye in the Sky“! Please note that this was the ONLY hole I could see anywhere in the sky. And this was definitely something I had never witnessed before… Enjoy!!
Quite

Sony RX10 Mark IV, polarizing filter

Minor adjustments in LIGHTROOM