More Winter Skies

12/13/11 7:49am - "<3"

1/4/12 7:59am - "omg"

1/10/12 4:46pm (west view)

1/10/12 4:46pm (east view)

1/5/12 4:59pm - ":-)"

1/10/12 6:16pm

1/11/12 7:55am (wide shot)

1/11/12 7:55am (close-up on Mt. Rainier)

1/12/12 9:30am - "yup..."

1/12/12 04:06pm - "this never gets old"

 Everybody and their mother was paying attention to the following sunset (on 1/13/12). I walked down Pine towards downtown, and people were taking pictures on their phones, or just standing staring at the slivers of sky between the buildings. On facebook, I simply posted "No photo is going to do it justice. Get outside and experience the sky yourself...right NOW." When I got home, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people posted awesome photos and timelapse slideshows and videos online! And such *good* ones! Maybe one day, I'll have a camera that's better at taking good photos in the crazy light situations of sunrise/sunset. These are some photos my friend Josh sent me:

*text from Josh* 1/13/12 5:24pm - "sexy"...

*text from Josh* 1/13/12 5:52pm - "sexy--the sky"

Texts from Pax: November & December 2011

11/18/11 04:20pm - "decent way to end a friday"

11/28/11 04:16pm - "mmmmmmmm"

11/29/11 07:35am - "clouds to the south, lying up against the mountains"

11/30/11 03:55pm - "very soon"

11/30/11 08:04am

12/02/11 03:47pm

12/02/11 03:48pm

12/02/11 04:13pm

12/07/11 03:47pm

12/07/11 03:52pm - "wow..."

12/07/11 05:30pm

12/09/11 04:34pm

12/09/11 04:34pm

12/12/11 04:20 - ":-)"

12/13/11 07:39am - "<3"

Cloud Catch-Up

9/27/2011 (Tues)

(I wish I'd gotten a better image of the glowing pink spots...if you enlarge ^this^ one, you can see them better, but it's nothing compared to what I was seeing in 3-D.)

09/28/2011 (Wed)

10/04/2011 (Tue)

Zoom in! Sorry for the blur, but the crazy glowiness had to be documented on here...even if it's just a mere shadow of it's full momentary glory...

Yesterday's Sky Porn

As always, you can click on the pics to enlarge them.

Sunrise:

(Sorry about the big metal bars in the following photos...I took the pics on the bus, as we were going across the I-5 bridge in the express lanes.)

Afternoon sky...check out the mountains (just at the visible horizon) that are peaking over a layer of clouds...about center in the first photo, and a little to the left in the second.

In Love with the Sky: Wednesday, Sept 21, 2011

I'm going to start labeling these sky photo posts "In Love with the Sky"...cuz, well...I am. In love with the sky, I mean. I really can't help it. When I took an Intro to Atmospheric Sciences (aka Meteorology) class two springs ago, I started a habit of looking at the sky any time I was outside or near a window. Originally, it was to study the clouds and learn how to tell what the weather's doing by the forms they take. But my desire to learn soon melded with my love of aesthetics, and thus, a sky/cloud obsession was born.

Today, the sky was full of soft, icy blue clouds...all day. This afternoon, I found myself near my favorite sky-watching spot, Lakeview Blvd. Close enough to walk down and get a bigger picture of what I could only catch glimpses of between the apartment buildings on Capitol Hill. Naturally, I snagged the opportunity for more sky-lovin'.

Oh, and Blogger just announced that photos are now available for viewing in their full size. Which is handy, because in this series, I used the panorama setting on my spiffy camera phone for the first time. So if you want to see any of these in a larger format, just click on the image! :)

This first set was taken on the Lakeview Blvd I-5 overpass. It seemed like I was standing there for ages, jaw gaping in awe, camera clicking away. But according to the time stamps on my photos, I was only actively taking pics for 20 min. Time perception is a fickle thing.

Sept 21, 2011 - 7:00am

"You should come look at the clouds!"

Best way to get up in the morning.

I'm here. Now.

It's been a week or two of gorgeous summer weather here...which is actually welcome here in Seattle. I imagine that the inhabitants of other areas of the country have been praying for the rainy season for a good while now...especially those in Texas.
I am soooo grateful for where I'm living right now. The sun is shining, the air is warm (but not too warm), and there are plenty of ripe blackberries for instant snacking everywhere I go, it seems.
This sky-centric photo is a bit unusual for me...I mean...there are only like...4 whispy clouds in it! Who wants to gaze at a blue sky for longer than a minute, right?!
Well...I do. Today, anyway. I'm feeling what's here, and appreciating the present. Or trying to, anyway...
Some people run every morning, some treadmill at lunchtime, and others sit in silence each night before bed. Whatever you like to call it (exercise, clearing your head, releasing energy, meditation), it gets you back in your body and focused on the present moment. I don't have a have a regular activity like this scheduled for myself. I am now realizing just how beneficial it could be for me, though. A daily ritual, even if it changes form from time to time, would have more potential to keep me grounded than sporadic unplanned bike rides across the city.
Seems logical, anyway.
So today's get-out-of-my-head exercise is a long bike ride. Tomorrow's will probably be something else. And as long as I have a core commitment to myself (and my sanity), I'm ok with some uncertainty.

Sunrise, Sept. 8, 2011

Sunrises and sunsets are probably my favorite part about living on this planet. But really, the sky, in general. And clouds. Especially when large bodies of water are also visible beneath the sky.

These are images of this morning's sunrise, which, as always, don't do the real thing justice. My jaw dropped when I got my first glimpse of the eastern glow. The way the light was hitting the clouds made them look two dimensional and exaggerated their shapes...so much so that it reminded me of paintings and drawings that I've seen, but which I always considered to be exaggerations and romanticizations of what was actually seen and what was actually possible in the sky. Unfortunately, I didn't get a very good shot of the clouds, so you'll just have to take my word for it. ;)

7:03am

8:00am

Sunrise, Sunset...

Pax and I went camping at Deception Pass (on Whidbey Island) last weekend. I use the term "camping" loosely...as we had our car nearby (as did the people at the other 200-odd campsites) and there were towns and shops within 10 min of the park.

This park is very significant to me, as it was our annual camping spot for most of my childhood. Here, I learned to scamper across the driftwood on the beach and climb wet rocks at low tide. I poked sea anemones and listened to barnacles whistle in the wind. I honed the calluses on my feet by refusing to wear shoes on the stoney beach. I built driftwood forts, collected crab shells, and giggled in the dim light underneath an upturned canoe. I grew up there. Or, rather, it marked different stages of my growth, more significantly than my parents' house because my time there was less and my visits spread out.

So I experienced some closure last weekend, unsurprisingly. It's been about 5 years since the last time I was there, and I've matured (and otherwise changed) quite a bit. I'm grateful for Pax's willingness to humor me in my semi-conscious quest. It was fun to do the things I used to love doing...and funny to see how different things actually are there compared to how they were in my memory.

This is a video I took while we were on the beach watching a stunning sunset. The silhouette of the fisherman was too picturesque to not document, and he even caught a fish while I was filming! Unfortunately, the camera was actually turned away from him at the moment of catching...but no matter. I love how much you can see, with only the outlines of shapes to go off of. And, really, I can't get enough of gorgeous sunsets, especially on the water. Watching the sun set is one activity I will never grow out of.

[txtfromlaurel] May 20, 2011, 5:31pm