SkyPix

A digital photographic storybook of clouds, weather and water by Roger Edwards.

22-degree Halo

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Light from the sun or moon, bent through hexagonal ice crystals in cirrus clouds, often forms a ring removed at a 22-degree angle from the position of its source.  The coloring looks similar to a primary rainbow, but in reverse, with reds on the inside grading through yellow and green to blue and purple hues on the outside.  However, the process is not the same, since the water state involved is … [Read more...]

Abstractions in an Icelandic Paint Pot

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Staring into an Icelandic geothermal mud pond, also known at Yellowstone as a paint pot for obvious reasons, one can become mesmerized at the continually evolving bands of dark and light fluid, deforming and stretching this way and that as the mud flows both horizontally and vertically through the system.   Zooming in to the features captures a singular work of natural abstract art, an ephemeral … [Read more...]

Godafoss Sunset

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Though modest in height by Icelandic standards, Godafoss (Waterfall of the Gods) rightfully is renowned as once of Iceland's most inspiring and beautiful.  That's especially true when paired with one of those lengthy sunsets of a high-latitude summertime.  To balance the light for this shot, I employed either a 2- or 3-stop handheld graduated neutral-density filter, wiping off spray with a … [Read more...]

Scaling Hydrology

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Purposefully composed for ambiguity of scale, this image of fluid natural artwork initially makes one unsure if the height of the photographer is closer to 3, 300, 3,000, or 30,000 feet. Stream flow courses and erodes in similar ways at vastly different scales—in this case, the best answer being 3 feet.  The best give-away is a shoe mark at upper left.  Even though this scene was alongside the … [Read more...]

Crystal Daggers

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After and despite all the destruction an ice storm can bring, the first clear, cold day that follows can offer opportunities to appreciate the peculiar spectacles in the frozen scenes.   As a gentle breeze swayed limbs in the background, making them sparkle and crackle in rhythmic pulsations of color and noise amplified by the ambient dead silence, the more sturdy, icicle-bearing branch simply … [Read more...]

Downstream Maelstrom

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Just downstream from Dettifoss (Europe's largest waterfall) and under the plume of spray, a fluidly abstract scene roiled and roared along in the form of the  snowmelt-swollen Jokulsa a Fjollum River.  The high water, flood-producing in a few places upstream and downstream, ran a deep, muddy gray, laden with volcanic silt and ash ground up and carried by Iceland's biggest sheet glacier, … [Read more...]