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WEST JORDAN — After putting down the camera to play rock music for several years, a West Jordan man has since gotten back into photography and recently captured a beautiful shot of rare “rainbow” clouds.
Paul Marto grew up in California and developed his passion for photography when he took a class in 1980 as a sophomore in high school. However, Marto said his friend got an electric guitar around the same time and he put his passion on hold to focus on music.
“As soon as I saw the electric guitar, I put the camera gear away and got totally into rock ‘n’ roll for the next 20 years or so,” Marto said.
In 2008, Marto decided to pull out his camera again to document his young daughter’s growth. During the next few years, he became interested in nature and wildlife photography because he felt it was “more of a challenge.”
“For me, it’s so exciting to see a beautiful shot of something that most people miss because they are too busy doing whatever it is they are doing,” he said. “I thought it’d be a real challenge to get hummingbirds in flight… That was my obsession.”
Since 2008, Marto has won several contests with his wildlife pictures including the City of Irvine 40th anniversary photo contest and several online contests. His work has also been highlighted in National Geographic.
Marto moved to West Jordan in 2013 and continued his love of photography. On Jan. 23, he captured a rare shot of nacreous "rainbow" clouds on his commute to work.
"I don't go anyplace without my camera," he said. "One thing I've noticed about Utah is there's so many beautiful photo opportunities with the mountains on one side of me and the weather changing all the time and the seasons."
KSL Meteorologist Kevin Eubank said, according to NASA and the Weather Channel, nacreous clouds are rare because they only occur in high latitudes of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The clouds also only exist at high altitudes in the stratosphere, 70,000 feet or above, where clouds typically don't form because it's too dry for ice crystals to develop.
Nacreous clouds are a mixture of super-cooled water, ice crystals and nitric acid, Eubank said. They are nicknamed "rainbow clouds" because when sunlight hits the iridescent clouds, they refract the light and appear rainbow colored.
Marto said he was in the perfect position to get some pictures of the clouds.
Marto recently showcased some of his photos at the West Jordan Viridian Center from Oct. 1 to Nov. 31. His photos will again be on display at the Whitmore Library Gallery during May and at the Sandy Library Gallery in June.
