Picture of the Month by Tina Wright

My husband and I, both born and bred Easterners, only recently made our move out West. Though each of us had lived out our entire lives on the Eastern Seaboard, neither ever more than a two hour drive from the Atlantic Ocean, we both always felt our spirit more suited for the wide-open spaces of the "Wild West".

Our move was one of those split-second types where you land somewhere with friends temporarily until you find a more permanent situation. After living in the Phoenix area for several months and having a chance to better explore the surrounding area, and by surrounding, I mean a 300-mile radius (things seem to be done on a broader scale out here), we decided on a place to lay down roots. That place is in a rather remote section of western New Mexico known simply for now as the Wild Horse Ranch. There we have purchased a forty-acre mountain property that we deem nothing short of PARADISE.

Each weekend over the course of several weeks during September 2002, we made the five-hour drive from Phoenix to visit our new property. Afternoon thunderstorms are common in the area, but on this day there was nothing common about what we witnessed. As one particularly strong storm rolled in and thick bolts of lightning began striking the ground mere feet from our vehicle, we decided to hunker down and wait it out. Within twenty minutes, the storm began to let up and the sun suddenly burst through an opening in the clouds. What we saw next left us awestruck!

In front of our car, just beyond the tips of the trees, we noticed a peculiar pink glow. As the unidentified glow intensified we became increasingly curious about what it might be. Driving to the crest of a hill, the glow finally revealed itself as a spectacular rainbow! Its massive width and blinding shades of color were almost unbelievable. Neither of us had ever observed an atmospheric display so garish before.

As any photographer would, I grabbed my camera gear while frantically trying to attach a polarizing filter to the front of my lens before the bow disappeared. These moments in nature are often elusive and fleeting and it was a risk to take those extra moments simply for a filter. But in order to better saturate the bow, I felt it necessary in hopes of reproducing on film the quality and vibrancy of color I was actually witnessing.

The polarizer did the job, and between that and my deliberate choice of film (E100VS has a highly saturated emulsion), what you see here is a true reflection of what my husband and I had the utter joy of experiencing - the most magnificent rainbow we had ever seen! And right by our new property - Wow!

By the way, it turns out my frantic pace was run in vain. The rainbow actually rose just as the sun would, thinning out as it did so but all the while retaining its vibrancy. It lasted a full forty-five minutes! In fact the image I have posted was actually taken roughly thirty minutes after the bow had first formed!

Tina Wright

PS. Please check back on this site regularly. In the near future, I will be leading weekend-long workshops on my new property and to the nearby El Malpais National Monument and Conservation Area. Detailed information, dates, and prices will be listed at that time. Thank You!