Retreating Storm

The Tanami road runs for nearly 1,000 km from Alice Springs, across the Tanami Desert to Halls Creek in Western Australia. Here, about 600km out you are lucky to see one other car a day. Damon had been driving with friends for many hours, following massive storm clouds that were dumping intense rain on the road ahead. As he waited for the right combination of road, cloud, vegetation and light, Damon watched this shot developing over many hours. Finally, later in the afternoon, as intense golden light broke through the storm clouds and lit the freshly washed dirt road, Damon called a halt, set up his camera and took one shot within a two minute window before the sunlight and the spectacular colour disappeared. Many people do not believe that a road could be so red - but this was due to the colour of the normal red desert sand being enhanced by the rain and brilliant afternoon sunlight.