SkyPix

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

Sweetgum’s Claws

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Curved icicles dangling from the leaves of a sweetgum tree perform a decent caricature of clawed dinosaur feet.  The curvature happens when the object hosting the icicle changes position gradually, such as when a tree branch steadily sags from the weight of accumulating ice.  The icy stalactite always points down at the time that part of it was formed, but what constitutes "down" changes over the … [Read more...]

Fountain Bow

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Rainbows don't need rain.  Any good source of spray in the sunshine will do, such as this series of fountains at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.  The darkness of the pool's water helped the contrast and brightness of the "spray bow" stand out, much as would a dark storm core behind a natural rainbow. Fort Worth TX (28 Jul 8) Looking E 32.748, -97.327 … [Read more...]

Coronal Reflections

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A color corona around the sun, and amidst a zig-zagging deck of altocumulus translucidus clouds, was lost in the glare when seen through dark glasses or the camera lens, but made its presence known through reflections off the water's surface.  This sort of corona is a visual effect of the earth's atmosphere (specifically diffraction), and shouldn't be confused with that like-named part of the … [Read more...]

Foggy Reflections at Cape Alava

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A colored corona, lost for both eyeball and camera in the glare of a fog-diffused sun, appeared as a reflection on calm Pacific waters at low tide.  This was over two years after, 20 degrees F colder, and 2855 miles farther northwest in the opposite corner of the country, compared to my previous photograph of coastal coronal reflections with islands--but no less peaceful and fulfilling.  I had … [Read more...]

Altocumulus Spray

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A glorious field of golden altocumulus clouds seems to radiate from the area of the horizon hosting the setting sun.  One among many amazing concepts about the sky and clouds is how very similar they can be from one place and situation to another (check out equallly dazzling examples from Minnesota, Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and Bavaria in Germany), while never precisely … [Read more...]