Light from Heaven: Crepuscular Rays Over Delta, Alabama

There are moments in nature that stop you mid-step and make you reach for your camera without thinking. This is one of them.

Over the open countryside near Delta, Clay County, Alabama, a break in the storm clouds unleashes one of nature's most awe-inspiring light shows — crepuscular rays fanning outward from a brilliant white gap in the clouds, streaming down through the deep blue Alabama sky in long, luminous beams that seem to reach all the way to the earth below. The silhouetted treeline in the lower left grounds the image in the Alabama landscape, while the vast, dramatic cloudscape fills the rest of the frame — dark storm clouds on the left giving way to lighter, more scattered clouds across the right, the whole sky alive with movement and light.

Crepuscular rays — from the Latin word for twilight — are one of the most photographed atmospheric phenomena in the world, and for good reason. They appear when sunlight streams through gaps in clouds and is made visible by dust and moisture in the air, creating the impression of beams of light descending from above. To many people, they look exactly like what Chris 'Bama' Price named them — light from heaven.

Whether you experience this image as a meteorological phenomenon, a spiritual moment, or simply one of the most beautiful skies ever captured over the Alabama countryside, "Light from Heaven" is the kind of photograph that makes you feel something the moment you see it.

Bring the awe-inspiring beauty of Alabama's dramatic skies home with this museum-quality fine art photography print by Bama Price — available as metal, canvas, or glossy paper.