"Mt. Blanca, Colorado" © 2010 by Paul F. Moloney

Nature provides spectacular fleeting moments, and I am grateful to be alert and can capture such a moment on film. This happened a couple weekends ago.

I had been experimenting with Rollei 820 Infrared film and had switched to another camera with an 180 mm lens with a 25 red filter and Kodak T-max 100 film when … 

Sierra Blanca at the east portal to Colorado’s San Luis Valley peeked its primary peak, Mt. Blanca, through a shroud of blustery clouds. The red filter intensified the contrast by darkening the sky to almost black and whitening the clouds and snow.

I was on the San Luis Valley  floor, about 6500 feet below Mt. Blanca’s crest. I shot two frames at F/11 and 1/250, and the moment vanished. 

The dramatic situation is indelible and brought my attention to a Branch Rickey quote when his Brooklyn Dodgers won the 1955 World Series over the New York Yankees:  “Luck is the residue of preparation.”

Let’s continuously look out or search for opportunities, and of course, prepare for them.