Friday, 8 January 2016
Sunday, 20 December 2015
Clouds
Lenticular Clouds
“This particular sunset lasted a good hour or more in late November in Boulder, Colorado. I was returning from a mountain biking trip and I saw the light begin to change slowly but in a special, almost strange kind of way and then I noticed the vast lenticular clouds that were beginning to catch on fire! I pulled off Route 93 and set up on the car hood (no tripod!) and then the light show began. The clouds were in place and then the light began to do its thing and changed from a yellow to slight orange then red then to purple as the sun set. But more than the colors, it was the clouds that were changing shape and the combination of changing light and ‘shape-shifter’ clouds created one of the most amazing light shows I have ever seen. I shot like crazy and managed to have quite a few keepers and some I have sold as custom-made fine art prints. There is a reason NCAR is located in Boulder as supposedly there is no other place in the lower 48 states that has such variety of atmospheric conditions to study. I was lucky that day. I always have a camera handy.”
nice
Sailing Stones
“The Racetrack is an ancient dry lake bed in Death Valley, famous for its sailing stones. Located between the Last Chance Mountains and the Cottonwood Mountains, the Racetrack Playa lies at 3600′ above sea level, is about 3 miles long by 1 mile wide in size, and appears almost perfectly flat. Much of the year the Racetrack lakebed is totally dessicated and covered with small hexagonal mud patterns, although during the two rainy seasons that Death Valley experiences the playa becomes muddy and is sometimes ‘underwater’. At the south end of the Racetrack Playa are found the Racetrack’s famous ‘sailing stones’. Typically about the size of a shoe box or larger, the stones mysteriously move about the playa leaving trails behind them. Noone has actually observed any of the stones moving. One theory about their locomotion suggests that a combination of wet mud (during the winter rainy season) and high winds, perhaps combined with a thin layer of ice atop the mud, allows the stones to slide. Evidence indicates that the rocks move once every few years, and that tracks last only 4-5 years. My hunch is the occasions of the stones’ movement is a function of seasonal weather patterns and the presence or absence of sufficient water, wind and ice to trigger the sailing phenomenon.”
Nice Clouds
Mammatus Clouds
“A typical storm came through Minnesota late one evening. It wasn’t very exciting, so I hadn’t gone out to get pictures of any lightning or wall clouds. Then all of a sudden I saw these clouds out the window. I grabbed my camera and ran out of the house (no tripod, no shoes even). All I could do was brace myself against a wall of the house and start shooting. They started out a very light yellow and proceeded through to this deep magenta. I managed to get just 10 pictures before the moment was gone.”
nature
Lake Bubbles
“Abraham Lake in the winter has to be one of the best kept secrets in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. A lot of people pass it on their rush from Banff to Jasper but never bother to take the turn on to Highway 11. It is such a beautiful area though! The lake is situated in a rain shadow area of the surrounding mountains and receives little snow in winter. These conditions keep the ice practically snow free. The ice is just perfect, filled with air bubbles and cracks as water levels drop over the winter time. When I took this shot, I was visiting the lake for the first time. The sun started to get lower on the horizon and the day was running close to its end when beautiful pastel pinks appeared in the sky. I had to move fast! Not having any cleats on my boots, it was very challenging to get down to the lake surface. Mix in a lot of wind and you can imagine me, being blown all over the lake’s icy surface. I sure had fun! If you are around during winter time, make sure to stop by this beautiful lake.”
Rainbow
Double Rainbow
“On a trip to photograph wildflowers near Crested Butte, Colorado, I had settled into a campsite nearby, and waited out a summer rainstorm under some trees. As the rain was tapering off, I spotted part of a rainbow through the trees, grabbed a camera and ran onto the dirt road in the foreground. I think the thing that makes this rainbow photo unusual is that the rainbow is so close to the ground, literally underneath the mountains in the background, not just up in the sky. So the rainbow is the photo, not just an element of it.”
Eruption
Volcanic Eruption
“On the 14th of April 2010, Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, this time from the top crater in the center of the glacier, causing melt water floods (also known as jökulhlaup) to rush down the nearby rivers, requiring 800 people to be evacuated. This second eruption threw volcanic ash several kilometres up in the atmosphere which led to air travel disruption in northwest Europe for six days. This image if from the 19th of April when the eruption was calming down quite a bit and the first signs of magma could be seen. I shot this through the open window of a small Cessna which I charted. I used my Nikon D3x with a 50mm f/1.4 lens shooting at f/2.0 and 1/250s. The light was disappearing fast and I was already up to ISO 6400. I continued shooting with my Nikon D3s and got usable stuff even at ISO 25600. You have got to love the the latest digital cameras and their low light performance. Only a few years ago I wouldn’t have dreamt about getting usable shots in these conditions.”
Borealis
Aurora Borealis
“I’ve viewed hundreds of displays of Aurora Borealis and although the technical process of photographing this spectacle isn’t overly difficult or challenging after you initially ‘figure it out’, I never fail to be inspired when I’m out there, in the cold and dark, shooting. Photography of the aurora is one way to force yourself outside to view it. Believe it or not, many northerners don’t ‘see’ the aurora that often; they don’t want to leave the comfort of their warm houses. I myself have fallen victim, at times, to the line of thinking ‘ah, they’re always out – why bother looking?’ which is a little sad. We take for granted one of the world’s most amazing natural sights. It only lasted minutes, and then moved on to some other wonderful formation… but it reminded me of a breath, or a whisper, or wind coming from the stars themselves.”
Aurora
Aurora Borealis
I’ve viewed hundreds of displays of Aurora Borealis and although the technical process of photographing this spectacle isn’t overly difficult or challenging after you initially ‘figure it out’, I never fail to be inspired when I’m out there, in the cold and dark, shooting. Photography of the aurora is one way to force yourself outside to view it. Believe it or not, many northerners don’t ‘see’ the aurora that often; they don’t want to leave the comfort of their warm houses. I myself have fallen victim, at times, to the line of thinking ‘ah, they’re always out – why bother looking?’ which is a little sad. We take for granted one of the world’s most amazing natural sights. It only lasted minutes, and then moved on to some other wonderful formation… but it reminded me of a breath, or a whisper, or wind coming from the stars themselves.”
hill
nature
Every now and then, we’re lucky enough to capture that natural rarity — the one that sparks our imagination and gives us a deeper appreciation for the world around us. Then there are the nature photographers who make it their mission to not simply catch the event, but also to create something that’s both striking and emotionally captivating. The following is a collection of some of the most incredible images of nature’s rarities that we’ve found among the PhotoShelter community.
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