View allAll Photos Tagged Cloud-based
Three USAF KC135's cruise the air to air refuelling area off our Norfolk coast. One Euro Fighter a potential customer.
BUT, at the time we had noisy fighter jets overhead above the cloud base.
Not had their transponders on I guess, so not showing on radar.
Half of the experience of landscape photography is the journey up the point you press the shutter and even long after you’ve packed down and started heading back home. It’s why to the photographer, the final piece often has far more meaning than just the artistic principles, compositional technique and processing that culminated in its being.
When I set out I hadn’t realised that a named storm had hit the UK. I’d checked all the local charts and forecasts but hadn’t really zoomed out to the bigger picture, perhaps rather foolishly. My route started in Hathersage where I made my way up to High Neb on Stanage Edge, the rain was relentless and the landscape disappeared and re-emerged from the cloud-base. I’m an optimist when it comes to shooting in harsh conditions but the driving rain made it impossible to shoot anything without the lens being covered in droplets.
Having found the limits of my waterproofs ability to keep my dry and soaked to the bone at this point, I decided to press on along the edge along to Higger Tor and photograph the Kit Kat stones, as I had intended to on New Year’s Eve. An altogether different scene presented itself to the one I had been expecting just two days earlier, with cloud and rain straking through Burbage Valley and between Higger Tor and Carl Wark in the background.
As I was photographing the scene, I realised the last time I shot it was also during a named storm, that being Storm Claudio in November 2022. Quite the opposite of this photograph, dramatic light was the defining feature with a contrast between cool and warm hues that puts it up there with one of my favourite photographs. The experience of the day carried on well into the evening, the flooding and landslides caused by Henk resulting in me being stranded in Nottingham for the night although my stay at the Bentinck Hotel was an extremely pleasant, if largely unanticipated one!
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IMAGE INFO
- Viewpoint is looking north-north-east from Central Lookout hill (~320m south-south-east of the Central Lookout carpark area off Stirling Range Drive) after some heavy showers had passed through.
- Talyuberlup Peak (783m A.S.L.) is obscured by the cloud base.
- Peak heights (above sea level) & approximate line of sight distances (from my viewpoint) are courtesy of the Peak Visor online panoramic 3d database:
peakvisor.com/panorama.html?lat=-34.42512591796618&ln...
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SOURCE INFO
- Original 35mm frame captured using a CANON AF35M 2 (aka "Sure Shot 2" or "Autoboy 2") compact camera, with KODAK CL 200 (aka KODACOLOR VR 200) 35mm color negative film.
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PROCESS INFO
- Digitized using a CANON Canoscan 8800F scanner at 3200 dpi, 48 bit color.
- Digital scan was post-processed with Adobe Photoshop CS Windows to remove artifacts, correct color shift, improve sharpness & restore overall image quality from the poor quality original.
SOOC apart from a very minor crop and adjustment. It was the strangest of sunsets seen from the very edge of the cloud base touching down on the Purbeck Ridge.
On the first day of this summer's flying holiday in Annecy, I was confronted with an ominously cloudy set of peaks behind the Planfait launch. Everywhere else, the sky looked nice, full of puffy cumulous, invitingly marking the many thermals around the lake, but first some height was needed to get to those, and I tentatively drifted back, climbing above the carpet of forest, under the blanket of cloud, with neither world seeming to offer much forgiveness should get too close...
The cloud shrouded the peaks of Les Dents; to find myself swallowed up in it would be unpleasant to say the least, as the priority of finding clear air away from those sheer cliffs would be compounded with the fear of crossing paths with any other pilot who exercised similarly poor judgement. So tentatively I pushed a little further into the wedge of landscape rising to meet the cloud, continuously watching the other wings to assess whether anyone was climbing - or being 'sucked' - beyond their control.
Fortunately the cloud base was rising too, the occasional break in the base revealing tantalising glimpses of prehistoric rock-faces before swallowing them back up in the grey wisps. Steady as she goes paid off though, and soon I was pushing forward, away from the mountains again. Heading for the clear air I was climbing all the while, briefly through the base of the cloud into the white room, in a trajectory roughly calculated and backed up with crossed fingers, that took me out of the side of wisps a few seconds later.
A fantastic visual demonstration of the low cloud base at Edinburgh yesterday by this United 757
Edinburgh Airport - EGPH
138_GHP_Airports_5Oct22 - Greater Houston Partnership State of the Airports with Mario C. Diaz, Director of Aviation, Houston Airports held at the Marriott Marquis October 5, 2022. (Photo by Richard Carson)
***DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS***
Download full resolution individual photos/videos by clicking the "down-facing arrow" below the preview image on the right hand side of the page. You will then be prompted to select a destination for the photo on your local computer.
This cloud based gallery will be available for three months in order to enable you to download all of the photos to your computer for safe long term storage. While the gallery may be in the cloud for longer than this time you should endeavor to file and secure the photos for future use in whatever manner you deem appropriate.
My review of the year (or another excuse to post a few more that didn't make it first time around!). Part Two: Spring
Every spring for the last three years I have visited Scotland but one bird has eluded me, the Dotterel. The pinnacle of my year therefore was a day spent in the Cairngorms in the company of Marcus Conway (www.ebirder.net).
With fresh snow falling on the mountains just a few days earlier, delaying the birds return (as a Schedule 1 species, the window between their arrival and the start of nesting is very narrow), and the cloud base unusually above the top of the mountains all day, we couldn't have timed it better. Several pairs were present and I finally had the chance to photograph these beautiful birds.
Without doubt, my 2013 Bird of the Year. Other favourite images from 2013 can be seen here
On Glanville Place, Volvo B9TL Wrightbus / Gemini 2 number 351 (SN11 EAW) is the first of a very fine batch of buses, new in 2011 (351 to 400 and 951 to 960)
Several of our buses are dressed in black right now, with a very eye catching wrap-around advert for Square: a point-of-sale system for sellers, which enables merchants to accept card payments and manage business operations. Square is cloud-based and offers both physical devices, which read payment card information, and software. It offers financial services and includes features designed to support business operations.
It’s seen to best effect like this, in profile.
Evening Clouds that I have played with using some of the Nik Collection.
Base Edit in DxO PhotoLab 3
NIK Color Efex Pro 4
NIK DFine 2
Have a great weekend, everyone. Byee!
(My 10 year old PC crashed and now I cannot open Photoshop (CS1?) I might be out of action for a while, as I figure out what to do next...might have to be a new PC and some non cloud-based editing software?!?!)
Mammatus are pouch-like cloud structures and a rare example of clouds in sinking air. Sometimes very ominous in appearance, mammatus clouds are harmless and do not mean that a tornado is about to form; a commonly held misconception. In fact, mammatus are usually seen after the worst of a thunderstorm has passed.
As updrafts carry precipitation enriched air to the cloud top, upward momentum is lost and the air begins to spread out horizontally, becoming a part of the anvil cloud. Because of its high concentration of precipitation particles (ice crystals and water droplets), the saturated air is heavier than the surrounding air and sinks back towards the earth.
The temperature of the subsiding air increases as it descends. However, since heat energy is required to melt and evaporate the precipitation particles contained within the sinking air, the warming produced by the sinking motion is quickly used up in the evaporation of precipitation particles. If more energy is required for evaporation than is generated by the subsidence, the sinking air will be cooler than its surroundings and will continue to sink downward.
The subsiding air eventually appears below the cloud base as rounded pouch-like structures called mammatus clouds.
Mammatus are long lived if the sinking air contains large drops and snow crystals since larger particles require greater amounts of energy for evaporation to occur. Over time, the cloud droplets do eventually evaporate and the mammatus dissolve.
Mammatus typically develop on the underside of a thunderstorm’s anvil and can be a remarkable sight, especially when sunlight is reflected off of them.
The Reparto Sperimentale di Volo (RSV) test pilot's returned to RIAT 2024 with a fully aerobatic display from their Alenia C-27J Spartan. The high cloud base on a couple of show days allowed for the full display to be performed which includes numerios derry turns, barrel rolls, and even a full loop. Not too shabby for a cargo aircraft! -19/07/2024
Once below the cloud base, the rugged but intensively farmed (rice) landscape is revealed as our Airbus heads north again into the Paro Chhu river valley. Great fun as the valley sides close in and the plane performs numerous changes of direction as it pushes closer to Paro.
# Travelling on Tuesdays (retrospective)
487_GHP_SoireePortraits_2019.jpg -- Greater Houston Partnership “Emerald City” Soiree 2019 with photography sponsored by Conoco Phillips at Hotel ZaZa August 24, 2019. (Photo by Richard Carson)
***DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS***
Download full resolution individual photos/videos by clicking the "down-facing arrow" below the preview image on the right hand side of the page. You will then be prompted to select a destination for the photo on your local computer.
This cloud based gallery will be available for three months in order to enable you to download all of the photos to your computer for safe long term storage. While the gallery may be in the cloud for longer than this time you should endeavor to file and secure the photos for future use in whatever manner you deem appropriate.
Microsoft Paint 3D on Windows 10 can be fun to play on without any knowledge on 3D n stuff. But, your PC must co-operate, as most of these cloud-based apps are notorious for crashing on you. Though, it's the Photos app more than the Paint 3D.
This Spitfire MKIX has quite a history so, i thought it best to use the words of the BBMF website to do it justice. Spitfire AB910's colour scheme is based on Spitfire Mk Vb BM327, ‘SH-F’, named “PeterJohn1”, the personal aircraft of Flight Lieutenant Tony Cooper, one of the flight commanders on 64 Squadron in 1944.
Tony Cooper’s desire to become a pilot began when he had a ‘joyride’ in an aircraft of Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus, sitting on his sister’s lap at the age of five. His dreams were almost shattered when his applications to join the RAF were refused twice, because the medicals showed that he had a badly damaged ear drum. Then in late 1937, aged 21, Cooper was accepted for pilot training with the RAF Volunteer Reserve at Luton. It seemed that the RAFVR was less particular and, as he says, “There was a war coming”.
Instructor
After completing his flying training on Miles Magisters and Hawker Harts, Cooper was sent to the Central Flying School (CFS) at Upavon in July 1940 on a flying instructor’s course. There he flew the Avro Tutor biplane and the North American Harvard – the first aircraft he had experienced with a retractable undercarriage – and within the month he had qualified as a flying instructor.
Cooper spent some time instructing at No 7 Service Flying Training School (SFTS), Peterborough, on the Fairey Battle. Then, in November 1940, he was posted to No 31 FTS at Kingston, Ontario, Canada, instructing on the Fairey Battle, the North American BT-9 Yale training aircraft and, from July 1941, on the Harvard. By June 1942 he had over 1,300 hours total flying and was assessed as an above average flying instruct
Back to UK & to the Spitfire
Whilst at Kingston, Cooper met and married a Canadian girl, but this did not stop him from continually pestering the authorities to be allowed to return to the UK on ‘ops’. Eventually, his wish was granted and he returned to England with his wife, who was moving from a land of plenty to a strange war-torn country with all its restrictions, shortages and dangers, where she knew no-one. Cooper’s parents took her in whilst he attended a Spitfire conversion course at No 61 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Rednal (and its ‘satellite’ airfield of Montford Bridge) in Shropshire, initially flying the Harvard, with which he was by now very familiar, and then Mk 1 and Mk II Spitfires. He completed the OTU course at the end of June 1943 and, although he had less than 60 hours on the Spitfire, he was assessed as an above average Spitfire pilot.
64 Squadron Spitfires
PeterJohn1 In July 1943, Tony Cooper joined No 64 Squadron, which was temporarily based at Ayr in Scotland with its Mk Vb Spitfires, undergoing a period of rest and training. He was to serve with the squadron for the next 16 months. He had yet to acquire any operational experience, but he was now a very experienced pilot with some 2,000 hours of flying under his belt as he entered the fray.
His exposure to operational flying began when 64 Squadron moved from Ayr to Friston in August 1943 and, a few days later, on to Gravesend in Kent. Many of the operations conducted by the Squadron were over occupied Europe. The pilots flew on fighter sweeps and escort missions to daylight bombing raids carried out by medium bombers, such as Martin Marauders or Lockheed Venturas. They also escorted Coastal Command Bristol Beaufighters on anti-shipping strikes off the coast of Holland.
On these sorties enemy anti-aircraft fire, ‘flak’, was, if anything, more dangerous than encounters with Luftwaffe fighters and, in his comments in his logbook, Cooper frequently wrote, “Heavy flak”. The escorting Spitfires were often hit by enemy ground fire and on many occasions Cooper witnessed one or more of the bombers they were escorting being shot down. Sometimes Cooper led a section of Spitfires down low over the Continent to strafe targets such as barges.
Deanland (“Tentland”)
At the end of April 1944, in preparation for the impending invasion of France, 64 Squadron moved to the Advanced Landing Ground at Deanland, near Lewes in Sussex, where conditions were somewhat Spartan. There was no permanent accommodation for personnel, everyone was expected to live under canvas and only four blister hangars were provided for aircraft maintenance work. For many of the Squadron, Deanland (or “Tentland” as it was sometimes known) took some getting used to. Tony Cooper recalls: “Deanland was a bit of a come-down; luckily it was summer time when we suddenly found ourselves on this hump in the middle of the Downs. We were in tents and I found myself using the same equipment my father had used in the First World War: a truckle bed made of wood and canvas and the same materials for a bath and wash stand. Food and drink did arrive fairly regularly, but where from I’m not absolutely sure. At night it was very cold, but when D-Day came along we didn’t get much sleep as we were doing up to four shows a day and were kept very busy.”
An entry in Cooper’s logbook against 5th May 1944 – a day when he flew a dawn patrol for 1 hour and 55 minutes – proudly notes the birth of his son, Peter John. On 22nd May, he records that he took over a new personal aircraft, Spitfire Mk Vb BM327, coded ‘SH-F’, which was named “PeterJohn 1” after his newly-born son, who he was not able to see until the baby’s christening some weeks later.
D-Day
On D-Day, 6th June 1944, Cooper’s logbook shows that he flew twice. No 64 Squadron was tasked with providing ‘Low Beach Cover’ over the American assault. The Squadron ORB records that Cooper was allocated his personal Spitfire BM327, ‘SH-F’, for both sorties. He took off at 0430 hours (before dawn) for his first sortie of the day, as part of a 13-aircraft formation, providing “Fighter Cover for Utah Beach” and landed back after a total of 2 hours and 40 minutes airborne (the first hour recorded as night flying). The naval barrage was so intense that it was not safe to be over the coast and the Wing Leader withdrew the formation to a safer distance. Cooper’s remarks in his logbook give an interesting picture of the confusion that reigned and suggest that the invasion stripes, so painstakingly painted on by the ground crew, were not entirely effective: “Navy shelling coast defences – first landing [by the invading troops - Ed] made at 0620 hours. Nearly shot down by a Thunderbolt – Spitfire in front actually was – Another Spit hit by naval shell and blew up – General Brock’s benefit!”
D-Day from Tony Cooper cockpit Remarkably, Tony Cooper carried his camera with him in the cockpit and took a photograph over the invasion-striped wing of his Spitfire just after dawn broke on D-Day, looking towards another of the Squadron’s Spitfires in tactical formation. The thousands of Allied ships in the Channel are not really visible in the photograph, but they were to the pilots.
On the evening of 6th June Cooper flew his aircraft on another sortie over the invasion beaches, taking off at 2200 hours, this time tasked with, “Fighter Cover for Omaha Beach”. His comments in his logbook against this sortie read, “Hun bombers attacked invasion fleet – tremendous return fire from ships – one bomber destroyed.” He landed back at ten minutes past midnight – almost 18 hours after his first take-off that day – logging two hours and five minutes of night flying. When asked about night landings in the Spitfire on the short, temporary runways at Deanland, which were lit only by ‘goose-neck’ flares, Tony says, “I remember them well, with reasonably controlled terror, especially when it was raining!”
D-Day+1
On 7th June (D-Day +1) Tony Cooper flew three fighter cover patrols over Utah and Omaha beaches; two of them in his personal aircraft “PeterJohn 1”. In all, Cooper was airborne for a total of 7 hours 25 minutes that day. The Spitfires’ freedom of movement was severely restricted by the low cloud base and the many anti-aircraft balloons being flown from the Allied ships involved in supporting the landings; this led to a much increased risk of collision. The last operation of the day took place in the late evening, with Cooper leading a section of 4 Spitfires flying in formation on him in the dark, with no lights showing. This sortie provided ample evidence that it was possible to be nearly as frightened by your own side as by the enemy, as Cooper recorded in his logbook: “Very bad visibility – no attacks – sent forty miles out to sea on return owing to reciprocal homing vectors – very shaky experience – brought in eventually by rockets”. By the time Cooper’s section landed, it was completely dark and his No 4 ran out of fuel as he was taxying back to dispersal. Cooper recorded 2 hours and 35 minutes of night flying in his logbook for the sortie.
June 1944
The intense flying rate continued: on 10th June, Cooper flew three times, then once on 11th, twice on 12th and three times on 13th. As was typical of many other units, June 1944 was the busiest month of the war for No 64 Squadron; its total flying hours amounted to a staggering 1150 hours – the bulk of which were flown in the two-week period after D-Day. Everyone was stretched to the limit, especially the ground crews who had to work long hours to keep the Squadron’s Spitfires in the air. Meanwhile, the pilots had to endure the strain of continuous operations. Cooper’s experience was typical and his personal flying total for the month was 75 hours of which 71 were operational and 25 were flown in the dark.
Spitfire Mk IXs
Tony Cooper In late June 1944, No 64 Squadron was moved to Harrowbeer, in Devon, to become part of the Harrowbeer Spitfire Wing with No 129 Squadron, with Wing Commander ‘Birdie’ Bird-Wilson as the Wing Leader. No 129 Squadron was commanded by Cooper’s good friend, Squadron Leader Johnny Plagis, who was godfather to Cooper’s son Peter John. BBMF Spitfire Mk IX MK356 is now painted as Plagis’ aircraft at that time. His story features on page 28 of this magazine.
A few days later 64 Squadron was re-equipped with Mk IXB Spitfires with which it flew fighter sweeps over France. It continued to take losses. Sometimes pilots were able to bring a flak-damaged aircraft safely home to base, sometimes they force-landed, sometimes they had to bale out and all too frequently a pilot was killed. Many sorties now involved strafe attacks against ground targets such as locomotives, vehicles and barges; inevitably there was enemy flak to contend with and on almost every sortie at least one of the Spitfires was hit. It was, therefore, an event worthy of note when Cooper wrote in his logbook against one bomber escort sortie, “No aircraft hit! All returned”.
On 5th August, after escorting 15 Lancasters of 617 Squadron, which dropped 12,000lb ‘Tallboy’ bombs on the U-boat pens at Brest, Cooper led his section of four Spitfires in a strafe attack on flak positions. He says that as they dived on their target, “It was the worst flak I’ve ever seen in my life”. The No 3 in Cooper’s section was killed during the attack; his No 4 was also hit and forced to bale out only 2 miles off the enemy coastline. The pilot climbed into his dinghy and was picked up by an Air-Sea-Rescue Walrus seaplane, in a courageous rescue, and he was back at base within three hours
September 1944
In September 1944, 64 Squadron and Tony Cooper flew sorties in support of Operation ‘MARKET GARDEN’, the Arnhem Para-landings. Then, on 27th September, during an escort mission for 130 Halifax bombers on a daylight raid against the synthetic oil plants at Bottrop, in Germany, the engine of Tony’s Spitfire Mk IX failed when he was almost halfway across the sea between Belgium and England, having apparently been hit by flak over the target. With the Belgian coast being the nearest, he turned around and glided through 12,000 feet of cloud, breaking out at only 1,000 feet, to crash-land, wheels-up, near Moerbek, Belgium, an area that, as it turned out, was just 4 miles inside the Allied lines and which had been in enemy hands only 36 hours earlier! Tony managed to ‘hitch a lift’ in an aircraft back to Thruxton the next morning and he was flying again that afternoon. His comment in his logbook simply reads: “Engine failed – crash landed – PITY!”
Off ‘Ops’
In November 1944 Tony Cooper was posted off ‘ops’ and back to instructing. In his 16 months with 64 Squadron he had flown some 600 hours, the vast majority of it operational flying and had twice been ‘mentioned in despatches’. He had seen much action, including being involved in the D-Day operations; he had made a significant contribution and was very lucky to be alive. Many of his fellow pilots on the Squadron – his friends and colleagues – had not been so fortunate.
Instructor at 53 OTU
During his time as an instructor at No 53 Spitfire Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Kirton Lindsey and Hibaldstow, Tony Cooper once flew Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 (on 19th November 1944), which is now, of course, part of the BBMF fleet of Spitfires. Remarkably, he also witnessed the infamous ‘girl on the tail’ incident with AB910 at Hibaldstow on 14th February 1945, when Flt Lt Neill Cox DFC* inadvertently took off with WAAF Margaret Horton on the tail of the Spitfire. Tony Cooper’s last sortie in the RAF was flown on 18th June 1945. He now had over 3,200 hours total flying; he had flown some 160 operational sorties and had survived 5 forced landings, two of them at night, two on fire and one as a result of being hit by enemy fire.
193_GHP_EconomicOutlook2018.JPG - Greater Houston Partnership Houston Region Economic Outlook featuring Ellen Zentner, Managing Director and Chief U.S. Economist with Morgan Stanley Research, on the national economy. In addition, the following panel of local experts will share their perspectives on the region's economyDecember 5, 2018. (Photo by Donna Carson)
***DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS***
Download full resolution individual photos/videos by clicking the "down-facing arrow" below the preview image on the right hand side of the page. You will then be prompted to select a destination for the photo on your local computer.
This cloud based gallery will be available for three months in order to enable you to download all of the photos to your computer for safe long term storage. While the gallery may be in the cloud for longer than this time you should endeavor to file and secure the photos for future use in whatever manner you deem appropriate.
Great forest and loch walk today (keeping low because of rain and low cloud base) around Loch Ard.. 7.68 miles so was not too 'ard'!
Cappuccinos and pastries after down at Callander.. 😁
Day 15
It rained on and off most of the night, lots of wind too, but now the sky was mostly clear, only a few wispy clouds hovering over Merriam Peak. The fish were jumping while photographing sunrise. After taking sunrise photos I tried fishing, but no luck. After packing up I hiked northwest from Moon lake to Elba lake. Elba lake looked more interesting for photography, I'll have to stay there next time. I saw a tent there but no people. I reached French Canyon by following the creek flowing from Elba lake. Upon reaching the canyon, I turned west and followed a trail to a creek that flowed from the falls that cascade down from Royce Lakes. I stopped there for breakfast.
After eating I left the French Canyon trail and ascended diagonally up the sloping canyon wall through patchy forest and talus fields. Today is really hot day. Above me the clouds are building towards the west. The forest is becoming denser and I finally reached the creek coming from Merriam Lake, and the non-maintained trail that follows the creek. Turning north to follow the creek instead of the trail, (because the creek doesn't just disappear like the trail only to reappear in two places at once) I started to make my way to the meadowlands beneath Merriam Lake.
The clouds have begun to block the sun and are spreading to cover the whole sky, finally a break from the heat. I hope I can reach a good camping spot by the lake before the rain starts.
I reached the small unnamed lake just south of Merriam, at first I thought this was it but I remember what the guy I met at Paiute Pass trail head told me, that Merriam Lake is huge, this one appeared too small, so I checked my map and sure enough this wasn't Merriam Lake. I was going to continue north, but as soon as I put the map back in my pocket there was a rumble of thunder in the distance. I began to hurry. More thunder. I wasn't sure how much farther so I started looking for a place to shelter. THUNDER! That one was close and loud. Time to drop pack and get my rain jacket and waterproof pack cover out. I covered my pack and then I realize that I'm on top of a hill! Lightning on the other side of Merriam peak. Leaving my pack on the hill I ran downhill towards a group of trees. (I know we are told not to shelter under trees in a thunderstorm but there are no large rocks or anything else to shelter under and I don't want to be the tallest thing or out in the open either.) The thunder is closer now and sounds almost electronic in the way it reverberates off the jagged granite peaks. A light rain begins to fall, and I can see tendrils of lightning as they reach down from the cloud base and disappear behind the peaks and ridges. The majority of the storm appears to be over the bear lakes area to the north where I will be heading tomorrow. After about an hour the lightning strikes less frequently and the thunder becomes more distant, and then subsides altogether and all that is left is a light rain. I feel it is finally safe to venture back to my pack. I hiked the last little bit to Merriam lake (10932) in the light, gentle rain. After reaching a good spot I waited for the rain to let up so I could set my tent up. Once that was accomplished I wandered over to the outflow creek to fish but I had no luck. I started looking for a good place to get pictures at sunset, and I found a beautiful pond just a bit further down the creek from where I was fishing.
I went back to my tent and made some tea, (chai green tea) and returned to the pond and photographed with tea in one hand and camera in the other.
As I find you here again;
A thought runs through my mind;
Our love is like a circle;
Let's go 'round one more time.
This photo whilst not something I would necessarily do today was taken to replicate a photo from 2009. I had just started photographing aeroplanes then. The first inflight photo I uploaded, the first Ryanair I ever flew on.
In a different world entirely too.
Whilst thinking about this photo on the way home last night I decided to start a list of things were different in 2009, feel free to chip in with anything that's different to today.
Beneath the list, I have referenced the original photo from all those years ago.
This aircraft had different seats and lighting. (Now has BSI hybird layout)
Aircraft has been repainted.
Smart phones weren't such a thing.
People still had landline phones.
Facebook was still in its infancy.
Memory sticks were used over Cloud based Drives
E-Cigrettes weren't a thing as such
Tablet PCs wre still a long way off.
No self service in Tesco.
HST were the mainstay of British intercity travel.
**No Alexa/Google Home Hub
It's blue hour on January 30th, 2020 and an eastbound Metra "Scoot" rushes towards its next station stop at Elmhurst, Illinois.
I haven't been up to much photographically lately. I'm having trouble matching free time and good light up together. So not much new, alas. Hopefully I can get a rhythm going again soon.
In the meantime, I have a couple of odds and ends projects going. One is trying out Nikon's surprise announcement of NX Studio. It's a processing/database program similar to Adobe Lightroom. I've had misgivings for awhile about where Adobe is going with Lightroom and have been mildly looking for a replacement for if and when Adobe drops the Classic version of Lightroom and forces everyone to use the cloud based Lightroom. I'm not going to subscribe to Adobe's cloud service just to process and catalog my photos.
I'm still working out my feelings on NX Studio (it was just announced a couple of days ago, so I haven't been able to work my way through all of it yet) but it's nice to know that there's a free Lightroom-esque program for my Nikon files available. The processing part of NX Studio is basically the same as Capture NX-D which I always found gave the best results for RAW processing of Nikon files.
I've also been digging through some old forgotten folders. This shot was one of hundreds that I had forgotten about on my little Coolpix A. It's about as technically imperfect as it gets but there's an aesthetic to it that I think I like. Even if it's trash (which it well might be) at least it's something to post. Given that I'm not producing anything lately, posting a potential garbage picture like this is at least something...
Here's hoping I can find some well aligned free time and good light soon.
I thought this wren's face just summed up my feelings on the weather this year :-) Tired of freezing or having very thick cloud or rain :-( Anyone else fed up?
(It is 12 degrees here today. The cloud base is almost on the ground, and we have had thick, extremely wetting, drizzle most of the day)
Seems like this sun pillar is reflecting off the cloud base of thin cirrostratus. Surface temperature was 20F. Taken 12 minutes before sunrise.
After an extensive lull of thunderstorm activity in the Cape, a beautiful high cloud based CG-strike storm or two passed through the Cape Town area. This shot was taken in Somerset West looking towards Strand.
Mammatus Clouds, or "breast-clouds", are fascinating formations in the sky, made mostly from the cumulus cloud base. Although they are not a sign that a tornado is about to form, they often accompany tornado-producing storms, or even may be direct byproduct of tornado activity - an aftermath of severe thunderstorms.
Taken with an old Pentax camera.I was just amazed at these clouds..I stepped out as a bad storm had just went through and this is what I saw in the sky.. kind of eerie! I had to let a little bit of the tree top and telephone wire in pic so I'd remember which way the clouds were going.
July 6, 2025 - North Central Kansas US
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A vast sky looms over rolling grasslands with a lowering of the cloud base. Indicating a possible wall cloud. The sunlight peeks through, creating dramatic lighting across the field.
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Dale Kaminski @ NebraskaSC Photography
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Camera Model Name:Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Artist:SARAH H. ALSAYEGH
Copyright:SARAH H. ALSAYEGH
Exposure Time:1/6
F Number:14
Exposure Program:Manual
ISO:100
Metering Mode:Multi-segment
Flash:Off, Did not fire
Scene Capture Type:Standard
Lens Model:EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
Each frame from top left to lower right only took 6/240 sec.
The step leader only took 3/240 sec to move ~8000 feet from cloud base to ground. Once the strike became grounded, the scene exploded in blinding light but was gone almost as fast as it was created.
Taken with an iPhone 11. Lightning was 1.5 miles away.
Picture of the Day
Virga (aka fallstreak, fall-stripe) are generally streaks of rain or snow appearing to hang under a cloud or tapering down from the cloud base, descending and evaporating before reaching the ground. The name of this supplementary cloud feature derives from the Latin virga meaning 'rod' or 'stripe'. It also is an acronym for "Variable Intensity Rain Gradient Aloft", meaning the rain gradient varies in intensity dependent upon altitude. As the precipitation evaporates as it falls, its intensity lessens, hence; virga."
There was some heavy cloud up here yesterday as the sun began to dip. It made for some unusual and strong colours as the sun moved through the small gap between the cloud base and the horizon.
This was the scene just before the sun dipped below the cloud.
The Nottingham Goose Fair is an annual travelling funfair held at the Forest Recreation Ground here in Nottingham. This year, 2022, it runs for 10 days, usually it's 3 days. Final day 09 Oct 2022.
Album: Goose Fair. Nottingham
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on the recent trip to snowdonia we did get some lucky breaks in the cloud base with the sun coming through in patches.
June 30, 2025 - Kearney Nebraska US
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A Shelf Cloud rolls ominously across the sky, casting a shadow over the expansive green field below. The contrast between the vivid grass and the brooding sky creates a dramatic atmosphere. A hint of light peeks through the horizon, illuminating the cloud base on this impending storm.
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Well yesterday afternoon it started as steady persistent rain and it hasn't stopped yet - so a full 24 hours of rain here in Hemyock (so far):
Met Office weather warning: Severe heavy rain to drench UK Today.
The warning covers much of Devon and Somerset, from Dartmouth right up to Lynton.
Regions and local authorities under warning as Devon, Somerset and Torbay.
This is a 'yellow' warning, with the Met Office rating the likelihood of impact 'very likely'.
Here there is some localised flooding and the cloud base has got lower and lower during the day, it will soon be fog.
Maybe its time to test how weatherproof my newest lens is.
Stay safe, get vaccinated when you can.
(The ends in sight but its not over yet).
All of the "UK Lockdown (3) " portraits can be seen together at:
Day 15
It rained on and off most of the night, lots of wind too, but now the sky was mostly clear, only a few wispy clouds hovering over Merriam Peak. The fish were jumping while photographing sunrise. After taking sunrise photos I tried fishing, but no luck. After packing up I hiked northwest from Moon lake to Elba lake. Elba lake looked more interesting for photography, I'll have to stay there next time. I saw a tent there but no people. I reached French Canyon by following the creek flowing from Elba lake. Upon reaching the canyon, I turned west and followed a trail to a creek that flowed from the falls that cascade down from Royce Lakes. I stopped there for breakfast.
After eating I left the French Canyon trail and ascended diagonally up the sloping canyon wall through patchy forest and talus fields. Today is really hot day. Above me the clouds are building towards the west. The forest is becoming denser and I finally reached the creek coming from Merriam Lake, and the non-maintained trail that follows the creek. Turning north to follow the creek instead of the trail, (because the creek doesn't just disappear like the trail only to reappear in two places at once) I started to make my way to the meadowlands beneath Merriam Lake.
The clouds have begun to block the sun and are spreading to cover the whole sky, finally a break from the heat. I hope I can reach a good camping spot by the lake before the rain starts.
I reached the small unnamed lake just south of Merriam, at first I thought this was it but I remember what the guy I met at Paiute Pass trail head told me, that Merriam Lake is huge, this one appeared too small, so I checked my map and sure enough this wasn't Merriam Lake. I was going to continue north, but as soon as I put the map back in my pocket there was a rumble of thunder in the distance. I began to hurry. More thunder. I wasn't sure how much farther so I started looking for a place to shelter. THUNDER! That one was close and loud. Time to drop pack and get my rain jacket and waterproof pack cover out. I covered my pack and then I realize that I'm on top of a hill! Lightning on the other side of Merriam peak. Leaving my pack on the hill I ran downhill towards a group of trees. (I know we are told not to shelter under trees in a thunderstorm but there are no large rocks or anything else to shelter under and I don't want to be the tallest thing or out in the open either.) The thunder is closer now and sounds almost electronic in the way it reverberates off the jagged granite peaks. A light rain begins to fall, and I can see tendrils of lightning as they reach down from the cloud base and disappear behind the peaks and ridges. The majority of the storm appears to be over the bear lakes area to the north where I will be heading tomorrow. After about an hour the lightning strikes less frequently and the thunder becomes more distant, and then subsides altogether and all that is left is a light rain. I feel it is finally safe to venture back to my pack. I hiked the last little bit to Merriam lake (10932) in the light, gentle rain. After reaching a good spot I waited for the rain to let up so I could set my tent up. Once that was accomplished I wandered over to the outflow creek to fish but I had no luck. I started looking for a good place to get pictures at sunset, and I found a beautiful pond just a bit further down the creek from where I was fishing.
I went back to my tent and made some tea, (chai green tea) and returned to the pond and photographed with tea in one hand and camera in the other.
A RED KITE, wheeling just below the cloud base at altitude, above my garden. A rarity over South London borders.
Camera hand held and around 90X
Looking southwest from Homolovi State Park at a monsoon thunderstorm near Williams, Arizona. The red desert color is being reflected into the cloud base as torrents of rain sculpt it—10 August 2016.
The White Cloud.
Based on a drawing of ca.1831-2, this landscape was painted a year or two later. The composition reverses the general lines of The Bright Cloud (Manchester City Art Gallery) painted at about the same period. The atmosphere is altogether lighter, with animated figures returning home to the cottage under a huge white cloud.
Ashmolean Museum Gallery, Oxford.
For an hour or so this afternoon we had the most amazing clouds over Garioch, ahead of a thundery trough, which was slow moving over western Aberdeenshire and the Grampians. The cloud base looks to be around 2000-3000 ft, so I guess you would call then undulating stratocumulus or Asperatus clouds.
With slightly more sun than was forecast I ventured to Acton Bridge Station as there were 2 freights due through within a few minutes of each other. I fell lucky with the sun as both workings passed through during breaks in the ever building cloud base.
First through was 60096 “Impetus” seen here with 6E10 the 11:25 from Liverpool BioMass terminal - Drax AES, crossing over from the fast onto the slow line to run through Acton Bridge station before accessing the mid-Cheshire line at Hartford Jcn.
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