Sandhill Crane Festival 2022 /  by Amber Braxton

It was late February when I first saw a post on Facebook about the Sandhill Crane migration that takes place in Monte Vista, Colorado. I didn’t know much about them, but I knew that I wanted to find them and photograph them. With two weeks to prepare, I asked my dear friend, Bronwyn, to road trip with me to these cranes. Being my ride or die, she excitedly agreed.

We arrived late in the afternoon on March 11th. We were staying in Alamosa, which is about 30 minutes from Monte Vista, where the cranes are. We drove into the sunset, through the countryside of the valley, and when we reached our destination, you could clearly see

Hundreds and hundreds of Sandhill Cranes…

Along with hundreds and hundreds of photographers. BLEH! If there is one thing that I aim to do with my photography, it is to get the most unique shot to me, something no one else sees, something no one else can replicate, which is really difficult to do when there are 100 photographers conglomerating in one area.

So, I just drove right on past that, because honestly, fuck that. I would rather get zero pictures of the cranes, than get the same picture as everyone else. We went and explored the refuge in Monte Vista for awhile, finding some water fowl and pretty wetlands, but sadly no cranes.

We could hear them overhead, with their trill of a sound, and we could see them migrating and soaring through the sky to where the flock was. What a treat. We exited the refuge and began exploring on some country roads. The sun was approaching its setting time, and we were about to lose all of the light we had left of the day.

So, I am zooming along, windows down, despite it being like 30 degrees outside, but damn the air felt so good, and then I both saw and heard them in a field to our left with a perfect pull over spot. The cranes were all on the ground, and simultaneously, as the sun was gleaming from behind them, they all shot up into the air and gave us a show I will never forget.

I really enjoy this particular shot, where the sun is very clearly shining its light through their wings giving them that orange glow, which contrasts beautifully with the blue mountain backdrop.

The following day, we got up early, and headed to Monte Vista for sunrise. We knew we were possibly going to struggle finding the cranes in the dark, and honestly we didn’t know where to look for them exactly. We decided to start at the refuge and then we would go from there.

As we were driving through the wetlands, the sun started lighting up the sky with a pink hue, although it had not broken the horizon just yet. We reached a partially frozen lake that was filled with geese.

HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK

Still, we sat there watching the geese, because we weren’t going to beat the sunrise to find something else. The sky got more pink by the minute and the environment got lighter and lighter.

As we were investigating the geese, we said to each other, “I think the cranes are behind the geese!” They were difficult to see through the fog, but the light made it easier to determine that behind the geese, in fact, were hundreds of cranes sitting in the lake.

Holy shit we found them!

The morning progressed, and the cranes began flying and soaring through the air and overhead once again. Their sounds were incredible to listen to.

OK, now I was cold, and I couldn’t feel my fingers. Other photographers were beginning to gather around me, which we already established I AM NOT ABOUT THAT LIFE! But FUCK this sun would not rise faster.

So we waited. Patiently. Anxiously.

The sun then finally broke the horizon. I was zoomed in on this particular crane, and as the sun illuminated them with it’s orange/pink glow, the crane stood up, and I shit you not, looked right into my camera and waved their wing in the air.

“Did that bird just wave to you,” Bronwyn asked.

For all of your realists, I know that actually didn’t happen, but for all of you dreamers, it was SO RAD! The crane then looked forward, soaking in the rays of the sun, and left me with this gorgeous image.

We spent the remainder of the day, exploring Alamosa and Monte Vista. Made our way to the Great Sand Dunes to possibly scope out a spot for a nice Milky Way shot in the morning. We located a 4x4 road only, to which I say, fuck yes let’s go. The roads were sloshy as the snow was beginning to melt but even though they were a bit slippery, we powered on until we reached a small parking lot.

There was a trail that led to a frozen lake, which led to the base of the dunes. We sand surfed down the first trail, and I thought to myself, “this is absolutely going to be a bitch coming back up.” We reached the lake, found out, that too, was quite slushy. Locating the shallowest part of the slush, we trekked through the icy waters to reach the base of the dunes.

To be up front and honest, I am NOT a hiker. I feel like I am dying frequently when I hike because I can’t breathe. But I also realize that I am not going to get the shots that I want by sitting on my ass. They take work, they take planning, and they take dedication. And it’s my job to do a good job.

So, I huffed and puffed up the dunes, following cute little rabbit prints all the way up, but other than that, our feet made the first prints in the snow. This is it. This is where we were going to photograph the Milky Way.

Fast Forward twelve hours…

I woke Brownyn up at 1:15am, which in retrospect is hella early but we couldn’t figure out the difference in times with Daylight Savings Time. So up we got.

We drove an hour to the dunes, 15 minutes on the 4x4 road, to find that the moon was still very up in the sky, and the Milky Way was not showing yet. So, we blasted the heat for 10 minutes, I ran to the trunk quickly, because it was 14 degrees out, grabbed my sleeping bag, turned the car off, and snuggled under the blanket for 2 hours.

I woke up and watched the moon slip behind the dunes, finally hiding enough of its light to see the Milky Way on the other side of the sky. It was time. We bundled up, grabbed our flashlights, and we started on our way.

Surprisingly the ground was almost completely frozen, as was the lake we needed to cross, and so traveling there was a bit easier at 4:00am. We followed our tracks back up the dunes, located our spot, and I sat up my camera. I handed Bronwyn the flashlights, as she was my painter of light. With out boring you too much about the specifics of my camera, I set up a 20 second exposure and was able to capture something that looked like the moon in space! Check it out below!

First Storm Chase of the 2021 Season /  by Amber Braxton

April 27th, 2021. I knew thunderstorms were on the forecast for the day. The minute I awoke at 6:00am, I checked the radar to begin to plan out my day of chasing. The radar indicated that out in Eastern Colorado to North Eastern Colorado there would be possible thunderstorms. I tracked the beginning of the storm on the map starting near Bennett, CO, and so I decided to begin my day trip there and see where I ended up.

I packed up some snacks, filled up the gas tank, and I headed out East. If my calculations were correct, we would have enough time to get out there and locate a spot just before the storms started. I jumped on I-70. anxiously awaiting the moment the traffic turns from city to country traffic. About 30 minutes onto the highway, the cars began to dissipate and traffic became less and less. Ah, freedom.

I got off on an exit, Watkins I believe, so I could reevaluate the storm and possibly snag a bite to eat before heading out onto dirt roads. I landed at the Colorado Air and Space Port, literally an airport out in the middle of nowhere, and as I am driving closer to the facility, I can see a tall flag with words on it that read “Mexican Restaurant.”

If anyone wants to know how to kidnap me, throw some Mexican food in the trunk and I will do the rest of the work.

So naturally, I decided to stop, because per my calculations I was ahead of the storm. I entered the restaurant, was seated by the host, and had a gorgeous view of the developing clouds. While ordering my drink, I began to hear low rumbling noises outside, but I couldn’t tell if it was thunder or sounds from the small planes taking off. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was thunder based on the clouds that were growing right before my eyes. And then lightning began to happen. I had little expectations for a really good, and when I say good, I mean photographable, storm because honestly, the season is still really early, and I hate getting my hopes up.

I quickly ordered my food, because lets be honest, Mexican food is absolutely a priority. I practically inhaled it and was out the door because I could clearly see that this storm was quickly going to grow into something big. On the road again, I could now very clearly hear the thunder and the clouds were becoming darker and darker, indicating that shit was about to BLOW UP.

Heading down the dirt roads, gravel is flying and bouncing off of my car, I keep my eye on the trajectory of the storm and decide to pull over to grab some cell phone shots of the storm.

The clouds continued to form and the storm continues to rumble and roar. A fair amount of rain also developed, and for the majority of the trip, the storm actually chased me as I was directly in it’s path. I was in pursuit of the best possible shot of this storm though. It needed to get uglier, greener, and louder, and I needed to find the best possible foreground that I could. The rain was now coming fast, and it was bringing hail with it. The clouds were spinning right above where I was stopped, almost like, damn, I really need to get the fuck out of here. But I knew I wanted to get some footage of the storm, and was eager to see if I could see a tornado pop out of this.

From this cell that was developing, came a small spout that was rotating and looked like the start of a twister but it only lasted about 45 seconds before disappearing. After I watched these rotating clouds for about 15 minutes, the rain caught up to me again. So… I was again headed out to find a bomb ass foreground for my photo, and I also hoped that the clouds would develop further and get greener. The hail and rain then became really intense. Dirt roads when they are wet, become like clay and are very slippery. I put my FJ in 4wheel drive, to prevent losing control, and basically coasted out of the rain to dry roads. I am telling you, the storm was on my ass pretty much all day long.

But then I found it. My foreground. It was a few stacks of silos that were in the direct path of the storm. The clouds continued spinning above me, which caused me to work faster than normal. I set my camera up on my tripod and took a series of images that I would later stitch together to create a panorama. The sky grew green and blue, and the clouds were chugging along in a circle, much like smoke coming from a train. It was truly a scary yet gorgeous sight to see. I anxiously snapped all of the images I needed to create the overall picture, which easily took about 10 minutes. The sky was now roaring above me, but I had to get this shot. Famous last words, right?

Once my little photographer brain stopped obsessing over getting the ‘perfect’ shot, I quickly realized that I needed to get the fuck out of there. Mostly because this storm brought a ton of rain and hail. So I headed North to get further out of the storm and stay on the perimeter, but shortly after this, the storm weakened. I was in the eye of it basically all day, and as it chased me, I am so happy it gave me some time to grab this shot because I am in love with it. Holy. Shit. What a great day for a storm!