August 22nd, 2007
dawn — august 22, 2007
This is the sky I woke up to this morning. Actually, the pink was much deeper and even somewhat startling when I first opened my eyes and saw the sky filled with pink clouds. Deciding that I should take a photo, I went to get my camera and, because I was still half asleep, it took a couple of minutes to pop the screen out of the window, crank open the glass, adjust the camera, and then start shooting photos. By then, the clouds had begun to lose their brilliance. Still, it was worth recording what I saw. The sky was filled with pink clouds in every direction. Quite amazing.
For some time, I’ve been adding cloud and sky photographs to an online gallery entitled Sky Shots. I’ve posted a screen shot of the gallery below. If you click on the image, it will take you to the gallery where you can then click on any of the thumbnails to see the original photos. I’ve been adding to the gallery since 2004. It doesn’t include every sky photo I’ve taken as I don’t always think of posting them there, but it’s a good representation. Most of the shots were taken here at the farm, but there are a few taken at other locations. While each of the photos seems interesting in its own way, I actually like to see the thumbnails all together. When I look at them as a group, I can pretty much remember where I was, what I was thinking, and how the sky looked when I shot each of the photos. There’s something kind of neat about that. I’m not sure if other photographers attach as many memory bytes to their photos as I do. What do you think? Do you find that looking at certain photos you’ve taken puts you back into the moment?
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:31 am
What a gorgeous group of photos!
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:55 am
Looking at photos I’ve taken definitely puts me back into the moment. I think that’s why I take as many “everyday mundane” photos as I do (as opposed to only special occasions). Everyday has a memory just waiting to be captured. :)
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:46 am
I haven’t been taking as many sky photos as I did when we first moved here. It seems that the cloud cover has been much heavier this year than in the past two, making the wow-factor of light less noticeable. I miss those stunning pinks, and was quite happy to find them here. Great collection of photos, Bev.
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:11 am
Very nice. I think I have commented at Niches that my natural inclination is to look up, so a group of sky photos like this is something I might end up with (given your talent). One of the benefits for me from reading your and others’ blogs is widening my horizons. Now I look down as well as up, and sometimes even see some of the other interesting things you (and Wayne) have photographed.
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:57 am
Wonderful, wonderful, and I couldn’t resist capturing the moment from the deck – the sky was amazing at sunrise.
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Oh yes – a picture somehow stitches our awareness to it. I’d not thought of it, Bev – but it is better than a diary because as we capture natural events with our cameras – the weather, weeds, snakes, bugs – we are involved in a creative effort that engages our senses at so many levels – and our sense of whimsy and aesthetics carries us along for the ride.
The gallery is wonderful. Orion through the aurora borealis – unbelievable. But the one that had to catch your breath was the great chevron of geese heading south. Breath-taking. Oh – and the sky through Maple trees. Can’t pick. All wonderful.
The November sunset gave me a little twinge of regret. But I must remember that every season has its beauty and the camera helps us see it.
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Amazing how quickly the colours of a sunset or rise start to fade, there’s just a small window of opportunity to capture the full beauty.
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Bev, the entire gallery is fantastic! I had a hard time picking a favorite, but finally did…and it was no surprise to me that it was a shot of the sky affected by a storm:
http://www.pbase.com/crocodile/image/38005170
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:30 am
Your sky gallery is beautiful!
The color captured in clouds is so intense–and every shot changing by the second!
I think the sky pictures, especially, are instant memory boosts because they capture an experience most fully.
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 am
threecollie – Thanks!!
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kay – I take a lot of “day to day” type photos too. They do really help me to remember where I was or what I was thinking, which can be very interesting many years later.
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robin – Yes, weather sure does have a lot to do with how inspired I am to take sky shots. A gray overcast sky is about the most difficult thing to photograph.
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Mark – You’re probably among the minority as far as people looking up (or down too, for that matter). I’ve mentioned this before elsewhere, but a few years ago while visiting the Kitt Peak National Observatory, the tour guide mentioned that the average person in the U.S. doesn’t look up at the sky for more than a total of 15 minutes a year!). If that’s true, it seems amazing.
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Cate – Thanks! I visited your blog to see your photo of the same sky. Interesting that the cloud effect was so similar and widespread over the whole region!
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Cathy – I agree — photos are really almost better than a diary in some respects. The old “picture is worth a thousand words” thing. When traveling, I take a lot of photos, not just of the scenery and special things, but of stuff that would seem mundane (see kay’s comment above). I like to take photos of the food that we made, the still lifes on the dashboard, signs, weird things found along trails — anything that will trigger a memory when I look through the images even years later.
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Duncan – How true! Often, I suddenly notice a great sunset going on outside, but by the time I grab the camera, pull on my boots and run out to the middle of the field, things are starting to cool down and it’s not so interesting. However, sometimes I get lucky and it gets even better!
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John – Thanks! That particular storm photo is one of my favourites and I’ve used it a couple of times on my blog to go with certain posts. That was such a weird day too. It was late in December, and we got a weird rainstorm (already had snow on the ground). The temperature got really warm and I had the windows open in the room where I was doing some art work at the time. All of a sudden, the sky went really weird coloured — an angry red. I had to grab my camera and get outside to photograph it, and that was one of the shots. I’ve never seen a sky anything like it before or since.
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Nina – Thanks! Yes, clouds just pick up colours in such an amazing way, sort of like an artist’s canvas. Agree that sky picutres do capture an experience in a very comprehensive way.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Yes. Looking at my photos brings me back to the moment I took them. My iPhoto library is beginning to serve as a journal. I love your sky shots, particularly “the Universe as seen in a pond.”
August 25th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
am – that’s the way my iPhoto gallery is too. It’s really neat to look back through it to see what was happening on a certain date. Thanks re: the sky shots. That particular one is a favourite as well.