Kansas Sky

I do understand why they’re called fly-over states. There really are things to see, however, in those states between the East and West Coasts. Things are just more. . . spread. . . out. And you could fall asleep in one part and wake up an hour later, look out the window and think you were in the same part. My background is Georgia, hills and green. It is beautiful out here, just a different kind. And we found plenty to do on our drive. One thing that Kansans are probably great at is studying clouds. The skies grew ugly pretty quickly during our drive, and although we didn’t experience any terrible weather, the cities to the east of us did. This is what we saw:

I edited these to bring out the nuances in the clouds. They’re pretty grainy coming from my iPhone…that adds drama, no?

Ok, this I just darkened a little. To this Georgia girl that is downright scary! I don’t think I’ve ever seen clouds covering 100% of the sky like that where it looks like ocean waves, rolling along. . . and we were in the ocean. You can see the light almost breaking through the clouds and you want to reach up and spread them apart to let the light in and prove that there is peace just beyond the turbulent. What do Kansans see?

Does anyone else see that button-looking, outie part of the cloud in the center of the photo? It’s surrounded by a little halo of light. Crazy! (Click on the picture to see a full size.)

This is the same picture as above. I used the MLR Gritty & Grungy preset in LightRoom (where I do 99% of my editing). I love the look this preset gives. Not as ominous. Below is the original photo. Looks like the clouds are almost touching that barn.

For me, clouds are usually passive objects in the sky that float along lazily, and if you make the time you can determine shapes in them and make up stories. These clouds were active and alive and daring and already telling a story, demanding the same respect that ocean waves do – beautiful, but you know that they are more powerful than you.