The Unreached Rain
You can feel a storm coming in the desert long before it arrives. The air gets thick, the temperature drops a few degrees, and you can smell the dust and the distant rain. I was watching this cell move across Anza Borrego, mostly just a dark smudge on the horizon. Then, the sun found a gap behind it, and these incredible shafts of virga lit up. The rain wasn't even hitting the ground, just evaporating mid-air. It was a perfect natural spotlight, and right in the center was this one ocotillo, holding its ground. I only had a minute or two to get the shot before the entire scene dissolved back into the gray afternoon.
There’s nothing quite like a storm passing through the desert. The smell is what captivates me most, it’s become my favorite scent in the world. Unfortunately, that’s something you can’t photograph. But when I look at this image, I can smell it all the same.
Never mind that this is virga and likely never even reached the ground. It still fills my mind with those familiar desert scents.