Jason Ward Photography

When the weather alerts are going off on my phone, it means "Go outside and look up." Yesterday I was delighted to see waves of mammatus clouds as an ominous backdrop over an otherwise calm and sunny day on the pasture. The storm that was dropping tennis ball sized hail up in Atoka north of me hadn't made it far enough south yet to block the sun. I had a window of about 20 minutes or so to get a shot, so I took my camera and walked out to my favorite tree and made it my subject once again. We actually dodged this storm as it raked us but went off to our southeast. This is yet another example of captivating beauty being closely associated with danger. God's wonder taking shape in such mysterious and wonderful ways right in front of our eyes!

(Click to see this whole shot)
Have you ever been to "No Man's Land?" The Oklahoma panhandle isn't exactly on many lists for top vacation spots, but that's exactly where my wife and I took our kids camping this Spring Break. Black Mesa State Park is a certified dark sky location, especially when humidity is low and the moon is dark. Most of the conditions were perfect for us, so we made the LONG trek to the highest points in the state for the opportunity to explore a new area and see some really dark skies.

Astronomy groups from Dallas/ Fort Worth were there too on this new moon occasion and they let us look at nebulas and galaxies through some really impressive reflector telescopes that were so big we had to climb up on a step ladder to look through them. While my family were being entertained by the telescope toting astronomers, I made a solo hike to the Rock Garden Trail in the park and set up for this shot. What I love so much about astrophotography is the peaceful, quiet time where I'm forced to be still, slow down and just spend time in the wonder of God's amazing creation. I got the foreground just after the sun set over my right shoulder and then brought out my new star tracker to align with the North Star and capture the Milky Way once it got darker. Here's my view of the night sky facing south in this unique destination you can only see at Black Mesa State Perk.

Here's a shot from yesterday's sunset over the farm pond. It's been trying to thaw out for several days but still had a sheet of ice covering part of it. Winter clouds often make for some of the most colorful sunsets!