For a landscape photographer, clouds can make an image, just as the lack of them can break one. Whether high wispy cirrus, aggressively uplifting orthographic or boiling strata-cumulus, clouds will add drama and character to a photograph. Often, they may be dominant and help define a composition. Sometimes, they are the main subject. There may well be more complexity and beauty in the sky then on the earth, depending upon the land forms below and the overall composition.

The Lakeside Mountains form the western perimeter of the now drying Great Salt Lake. They stretch north of I-80 through the Air Force bombing range to the old railroad depot and town of Lakeside. The range is about 35 miles long and comprised of two sections. The northern section is inaccessible as it is periodically subject to live fire from aircraft based at Hill Air Force Base. The southern section is quite interesting with multiple high points more or less easily climbed. For many, the Lakesides probably just seem like another insignificant West Desert mountain range to be passed by on one’s way east or west on the I-80 corridor. The landscape is subtle, no doubt. But, its quiet beauty can be enhanced by cooperative clouds.

On a warm day in September I headed out there for a bit of exploring and photography, of course. We drove past the now-moribund magnesium plant on the eastern edge of the range, where the pavement stopped. We contained north on the now-dirt road stopping several times to explore cherry-stem side roads that perhaps lead to old mine sites now maybe used by ranchers grazing their cows on our public lands. The day promised to heat up but the clouds were performing their aerial dance, especially as the afternoon advanced. By the time we reached Wrathall Pass, our halfway point just below the bombing range fenced boundary that separates the the two sections of the Lakeside Mountains, the clouds east across the Great Salt Lake mudflats and south to the Cedar Mountains were nothing short of spectacular. After processing my images that evening, the clouds clearly made the images.