Moonlight
This photo of the moon was taken on a whim. I happened to look outside and see the moon beautifully framed by cloud. I grabbed my Olympus and the 100-400mm zoom, ran outside and snapped. Simple, but I am pleased with the result.
You know, looking at the moon, it's interesting to remember that it was formed around 4.3 billion years ago when a proto-planet which we have dubbed, Thea, collided with Earth. Thea was probably about the size of Mars. The impact would have unleashed unimaginable energy, stripping the crust and much of the mantles of both worlds and flinging them out into space, while the iron core of Thea would have sunk through the maelstrom and fused with Earth's core.
Over time, much of the material flung off into space would have fallen back down to earth, other material would have continued outward and been lost forever. Even more would have formed a ring around our world. Yes, Earth once sported a necklace. Over time this ring of detritus began to coalesce and eventually it formed the moon. In those days, the moon would have orbited much much closer to the earth, and the tidal forces acting on our young world would have been quite something.
Over the intervening four billion odd years, the moon has moved much further away from our planet, and the time will come when it will escape Earth's gravitational embrace and be lost to space. For now, however, it's just really cool to look up at that natural satellite and realize that it is made of the same material as the ground on which we walk. After all, they were once one and the same
Another interesting thing to think about is that due to the collision and the resultant release of energy, which more or less liquified our planet, the elements that comprise our world were allowed to sink or rise as their density dictated. When the earth finally cooled again, the heaviest elements, and those which we tend to value the most like, gold and iron, were locked away forever in the core, or deep in the mantle. These are places that we will probably never be able to reach. while lighter elements like silica make up the bulk of the crust. Almost all the really important industrial ores that we seek today, arrived here from subsequent impacts--comets, asteroids, and meteorites.
Photo taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3, hand held. All post processing was performed in DxO PhotoLab 5.4.x and Nik Silver Efex Pro 3.
Creative Note: As with all my photos, unless otherwise stated, no objects have been removed or added to the image. I never replace elements such as the sky or other objects in the composition. What you see is as near as possible to what I saw. For me, the challenge is finding the beauty that already exists in the world. Some images may be cropped or straightened somewhat in post, and I do tweak the light and exposure to reflect the memory in my mind's eye. Some compositions are presented in full colour, while others are offered as black and white, or with selective colour to emphasize an element or theme that already existed in the frame.
Moonlight
This photo of the moon was taken on a whim. I happened to look outside and see the moon beautifully framed by cloud. I grabbed my Olympus and the 100-400mm zoom, ran outside and snapped. Simple, but I am pleased with the result.
You know, looking at the moon, it's interesting to remember that it was formed around 4.3 billion years ago when a proto-planet which we have dubbed, Thea, collided with Earth. Thea was probably about the size of Mars. The impact would have unleashed unimaginable energy, stripping the crust and much of the mantles of both worlds and flinging them out into space, while the iron core of Thea would have sunk through the maelstrom and fused with Earth's core.
Over time, much of the material flung off into space would have fallen back down to earth, other material would have continued outward and been lost forever. Even more would have formed a ring around our world. Yes, Earth once sported a necklace. Over time this ring of detritus began to coalesce and eventually it formed the moon. In those days, the moon would have orbited much much closer to the earth, and the tidal forces acting on our young world would have been quite something.
Over the intervening four billion odd years, the moon has moved much further away from our planet, and the time will come when it will escape Earth's gravitational embrace and be lost to space. For now, however, it's just really cool to look up at that natural satellite and realize that it is made of the same material as the ground on which we walk. After all, they were once one and the same
Another interesting thing to think about is that due to the collision and the resultant release of energy, which more or less liquified our planet, the elements that comprise our world were allowed to sink or rise as their density dictated. When the earth finally cooled again, the heaviest elements, and those which we tend to value the most like, gold and iron, were locked away forever in the core, or deep in the mantle. These are places that we will probably never be able to reach. while lighter elements like silica make up the bulk of the crust. Almost all the really important industrial ores that we seek today, arrived here from subsequent impacts--comets, asteroids, and meteorites.
Photo taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3, hand held. All post processing was performed in DxO PhotoLab 5.4.x and Nik Silver Efex Pro 3.
Creative Note: As with all my photos, unless otherwise stated, no objects have been removed or added to the image. I never replace elements such as the sky or other objects in the composition. What you see is as near as possible to what I saw. For me, the challenge is finding the beauty that already exists in the world. Some images may be cropped or straightened somewhat in post, and I do tweak the light and exposure to reflect the memory in my mind's eye. Some compositions are presented in full colour, while others are offered as black and white, or with selective colour to emphasize an element or theme that already existed in the frame.