This is my third post featuring a “wide open space of the West.” Please click on the links for chapter one and chapter two.
I live about 30 miles from the Suisun Marsh in Fairfield. The Rush Ranch, one of my photography destinations with access to the Marsh, is only 40 min from my home. As I mentioned before, few local photographers go there for photography, so I have the place to myself. And I do come home with unique photos of a location nobody else cares about.
Besides the marsh, mostly located near and inside Grizzly Island and along Grizzly Island Road, the area features rolling hills and fields that are used for pasture. I believe that before these areas were converted for cattle ranching, they displayed a typical chaparral vegetation, with bushes and oak trees.
February 20th was a cold, windy Sunday morning. The air was crisp, cold and clean, due to recent rains. The forecast predicted a partly cloudy day with little chance of rain. From my car, while driving back and forth on Grizzly Island Road looking for landscapes and places to pull over, I spotted these beautiful clouds forming over three hills.
I took the FEATURED PHOTOGRAPH (f/18, 1/120s, ISO 320) using a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 60 mm, handheld. I then converted it to black and white using Photoshop.
On the subject of black and white, the featured image is one of those relatively rare cases of a landscape photograph that works equally well in color and in black and white. The color version can be viewed on this link.
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Wall Art landscapes and miscellaneous
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It is all about the light 
This is pretty dramatic. Well done. I like the original color version as well. A version between full color and black and white might also be interesting.
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It’s so rare for me to have a photo working ou both ways, color and b&w and it’s possible that you’re right and muted colors would also work.
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I love the way you framed this and rendered it in black and white. It has a lot of texture and substance.
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Thank you. I certainly had a lucky day with clouds.
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Here’s a surprise ~ I really like this in black and white: even more than in color. It seems to me that the dramatic colors in the other version minimize the splendid and unusual cloud formations. This one really has a sense of movement; I can almost feel them sliding over the hills.
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Thanks for your input. I prefer the black and white myself!
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