OK, I’ll admit it, last weekend I rented “The Muppets” — not the actual Muppets, but the movie that came out last year. It was mostly out of nostalgia. Our kids grew up when “The Muppet Show” was on TV and we watched it all the time. We also took them to see several Muppet movies, including the first one, aptly named “The Muppet Movie.” In case you think I forgot that this is supposed to be a photo blog, let me quickly point out that the first Muppet movie, as well as the one I just rented, had a song called “The Rainbow Connection.” That got me thinking about rainbows, not that crazy “double rainbow” video that went viral last year, but photos of rainbows.
I don’t have many photos of rainbows, but recently had the opportunity to photograph one. About a month ago I was in Bryce Canyon National Park. It was overcast and raining and I was a little bummed because the scene was not very photogenic — there were no nice storm clouds or anything to attract my attention, just gray. As we hiked along the Rim Trail, gasping a bit due to the 9000′ elevation, the weather started to clear and a rainbow appeared. I had been talking to a young man visiting from Italy and we both started taking a lot of photographs.
At first I was not capturing the color very well. The Italian guy suggested adding a polarizer, which immediately triggered a “Duh!” in my brain. As the clouds shifted and the sky cleared a little more, the rainbow began to extend further across the sky. Finally, it became a full rainbow. One end was a bit faded and difficult to see but it was there. My Canon 17-85 mm EF-S lens could not capture the whole rainbow and it was fading fast. The man from Italy offered me his 10-mm lens but by the time we swapped lenses the rainbow was no longer full.
The remaining piece of rainbow remained bright for quite a while and the end of it — you know, that’s where the pot of gold is — slowly moved further away. Here are several rainbow pictures that I have taken over the years. None of them really grab my attention but they still remind me of the joy of the moment.
By the way, in case you’re curious about all those “songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side,” check out this list of songs about rainbows.