i was in flagstaff, AZ shooting some of those purina ads you see a few entries ago when one of the local crew told me there was something cool happening in the sky and that i should shoot it. he mentioned some a circle of light and talked about arcs, the shape of ice crystals in the atmosphere, angles and light, and a whole bunch of other confusing things that i was nodding my head while listening to but was completely lost. i threw a 16-35mm lens on my camera at 16mm and quickly shot a panorama of the sky. it kind of got lost in the mix for a while, but i came across the photos, stitched them together, and emailed it to the flagstaff local who clued me in. he asked me to send it to a website called Atmospheric Optics, and they asked if they could use it in a “picture of the day.”

if you spend a few minutes cruising through the Atmospheric Optics website there are some incredible pictures of skyward phenomenon. makes me want to learn more about arcs, the shape of ice crystals in the atmosphere, and angles of light.