Spring Mountains Monsoon Time Lapse•July 17-18-2025

Annually there are relatively few opportunities to photograph passing storms in the desert southwest, so when the chance presents itself, it is best to just go for it. Mid summer is when tropical weather systems push north into this region and these rain drenching events are called monsoon storms. Some are just a brief windy squall, while other monsoon season storms have the potential to unleash heavy downpours. Dangerous flash floods can occur, so it is best to stay on the high ground when filming such an event. The clouds definitely go berserk during the desert monsoon season and the dramatic essence of the stormy skies is best captured in time lapse video. 

The Spring Mountains covers a large portion of the southern tip of Nevada. These mountains overlook Las Vegas, but they might as well be a million miles away. Once the bustling city is out of view, it is nothing but desert mountain wilderness with some of the most picturesque canyons in the entire west. On the western side of the mountain is the city of Pahrump and the views from the high elevations extend beyond the Death Valley well into California. 

The barren 11,900 foot tall Mt Charleston certainly is picturesque and this towering peak seems to act as a magnet for passing storms. Storm clouds tend to linger in the chilly mountain air and the skies can become dark as night. These conditions are when lightning is most intense. For those who may be filming the monsoon skies, it is best to not take chances. A magnesium alloy camera sitting atop an aluminum tripod is basically a lightning rod, so it is easy to imagine the danger. I had to cut short one of the best sunset video scenes of the outing, because the lightning strikes were getting too close for comfort. 

Filming locations for this video were on both sides of the Spring Mountains on July 17th and 18th 2025. This monsoon storm lasted almost 2 days and then it disappeared. The western slopes above the Pahrump Valley are pictured, while several scenes were filmed in the Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Area on the east side. The colors of Red Rock Canyon are as vivid as can be and it makes these scenes easy to identify. When storms pass through this park there will be fewer visitors, which makes it easier to film without interruption or obstructions.  

Two full frame cameras and a set of interesting lenses were used to capture the individual images for assembling the videos. The lenses included an 8mm circular fisheye, 16mm diagonal fisheye, 14-24mm ultra wide zoom and a 35mm lens. A super telephoto lens was also brought along for the ride in case of wild animals. I did capture a few photos of wild horse mares with young foals in tow.

The 24 megapixel camera filmed full frame images, while the 45 megapixel camera was set to a 16:9 aspect ratio, so the view filled the entire viewing screen. This also made it possible to use the 16:9 video that the camera produces automatically, if the quality was satisfactory. This strategy worked in a few cases, but some of the 45mp camera filming sessions required processing the individual photos the old fashioned way to make the video look better. 

All sorts of strategies can be shaped around the choice of lenses when filming time lapse. The choice of location is important, but intuition plays an even more important role. Guessing which direction the clouds will be moving to or where the storm clouds will gather is the key to success. If the clouds abruptly clear, you may end up with a video that is either too short to publish or too boring to watch. Keeping the clouds in the picture is an intuitive skill and the satisfaction of nailing a good scene definitely delivers a sense of accomplishment. The little nuances will only become apparent to those who give time lapse photography a try!