Though Texas might be best known for wide-open plains, its sheer size means it’s home to a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal beaches to rolling hills, deserts to mountains.
As a result, it’s a place where landscape photographers can come to play and enjoy varied terrain that changes with each season and each passing thunderstorm.
Kevin Vandivier has spent decades exploring virtually every corner of Texas, traveling its lonely backroads and telling stories about its off-the-beaten-path locations as the Photography Editor of Texas Highways Magazine.
But as God Rays demonstrates, it’s not just the landscapes of Texas that are impressive, but the skyscapes above it as well.
Texas is no stranger to massive thunderstorms, and while they can be dangerous (this one eventually spawned an F5 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma), they can also be stunningly beautiful.
In this case, the humidity was so thick that the sun’s rays beaming through the thunderstorm were perfectly visible.
The deep level of detail in the clouds and the light rays emanating from them work nicely with the pared-down landscape below. Note how there’s little in the way of detail in the landscape so as not to compete with what’s happening above it.
A landscape one might not immediately associate with Texas is a desert.
Yet, as Chihuahuan Desert shows, Texas has plenty of area dedicated to the dry and arid desert landscape.
This type of landscape is a perfect choice for aerial photography, as it puts the texture-filled landscape on full display.
The black and white conversion combined with the stark landscape and strong contrast make this image look more like something from the Mars Rover than something that was captured in Texas!
But that’s the beauty of Texas and of all landscapes - if you take time to explore, be patient, experiment, and tap into your creativity, you can begin the process of creating epic shots of the landscapes you love the most.
Remember - creating fine art isn’t just about technical or creative photography skills. It’s about evoking a feeling, communicating an emotion, and helping people connect with the subject.
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