Sunrise/Sunset/Sky

Sunset

I was on my way home late this evening and the sun was getting low in the sky. I stopped at St. Mary’s Catholic Church to take a few pictures. First I took some of the reflections in the building across the street. After that I took some of clouds as they were lit up with color by the setting sun. This is the best of those I took, and I think it’s reasonably nice. It’s actually an HDR image, made from three separate pictures taken with different exposures and combined (using Corel AfterShot Pro 2) to give a more dynamic range to the image. I have mixed feelings about the overall look of HDR images but it really does produce some striking images.

Orion

It was a beautiful evening and I enjoyed spending it with a couple of guys on Steve’s back patio. The stars were quite beautiful, it was cool, and I was with friends. I took a few photographs of the stars. This one had an exposure of 30 seconds at f/8 and turned out reasonably well, although even in 30 seconds, the earth’s rotation is enough to blur the starts a little. This is Orion with the uppermost bright start being Betelgeuse. At 4:00 to that is Bellatrix. Then the belt, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka (left to right) and sword, the middle ‘star’ of which is actually the Orion Nebula (Messier 42). Finally there are the feet, Saiph on our left and the brighter Rigel on our right. The bright start in the lower left, the brightest start in our night sky, is Sirius in Canis Major (the greater dog).

Beautiful Sky

I was out in the late morning today to have my car’s emissions tested. That took longer than hoped but not really longer than expected. I was behind a car in line that I’ve seen before. I remembered it because it is a little Mazda Miata convertible with a bumper sticker that says, “Honk if you’ve Passed P-Chem” and it always makes me smile and wonder a little about the driver. Anyway, while I was out then the sky was mostly overcast. When I left work, however, it was quite beautiful, with a pale blue sky showing through between fluffy, white clouds.

Snow Squall

It’s been relatively warm the last week or so and most of the snow that fell a little over two weeks ago is gone (except the big piles where it was plowed off of roads and parking lots). It got a bit cooler today, down to about freezing, and there were some pretty significant snow squalls, starting in the morning and lasting into the early afternoon. By the end of the day it was clearing up and nothing had really accumulated on the ground, but it was pretty as it was falling. This was taken from my office window, a little after 1:00 p.m.

Sunrise, Greensboro, NC

Yesterday (Friday, February 5) we drove down to Greensboro for the memorial service for my Uncle George. This morning, after breakfast I was drinking my second cup of coffee and ready in the breakfast room of our hotel. I happened to glance out the window and this is what I saw. I rad back up to the room, grabbed my camera and went outside to take a dozen or so pictures. That’s quite a nice way to start off any day, but particularly one when we’ll be mourning a loss, as we did today.

Sunset

After work today I needed to run a few errands in southern Rockville. When I came out of the store, there was a fair amount of color in the western sky. I grabbed my camera and put the long lens on it so that I could get the colored sky without the buildings and parking lot lights in the foreground. Actually, I took a few with them showing, as well, but this one, I think, is the best. A month ago it was dark by the time I left work, so the days are clearly getting longer. We still have a fair amount of winter ahead of us, however.

Sunset From My Office

At the risk of posting too many sunset pictures, here’s another one. They seem to be fairly popular with the general public, so I guess there won’t be too many complaints. I happened to look out my window at just the right time this evening (5:23 p.m. to be precise) and this is what I saw to the west (which is at an angle to the left out my window. Not extreme color but still quite lovely, I think.

Sunset

I have fallen behind in posting to my blog again and this picture is from a week ago. I stood out the back door and watched the sunset progress this evening, lighting up the scattered clouds with bright orange. I tried to get a few with the snow in the foreground but they didn’t really turn out all that well. It was cool today but the forecast is for it to get warm over the weekend and the snow should start to melt. I’m not bothered, one way or the other, but I know quite a few people are getting tired of it. I enjoyed the sunset, regardless.

The Storm of the Century (Again)

It’s just over 15 years into the twenty-first century and we’ve already had two “storms of the century” (2003 and 2010, some might also count 2006). All the forecast models say that we will have our third over the next two days. Considering how many storms of the century I’ve seen, I must be ancient. I’m so old that I remember when they were just big snow storms (and there was significant fear in some quarters that we were entering another ice age!). The news media is having its usual hysterics. It started snowing early this afternoon. When this photo was taken, there was barely an inch on the ground. By the time we went to bed at about 11:00, there were about six inches with considerably more due overnight. Let the Hunker Games begin.

Moon Through The Trees

As the sun was getting low in the western sky last night, the tops of the trees were beautifully lit. A picture of trees lit by the setting sun, though, isn’t really all that interesting and even the color isn’t as impressive in most pictures as it is in real life. So, I moved until the moon was in the frame and hope that helps enough that you won’t walk away for good. I found it interesting that even as far away as the tree branches are, at 300mm and f/11, they are not within the depth of field with the moon. I could focus on the branches or the moon. I opted for the moon.

Sunset Over 270

I was out today running a fairly wide assortment of errands. I happened to be on Shady Grove Road and decided to run into Wonder Books (I still call it the Book Alcove in my mind but at least I’m finally remembering that that’s wrong and has been for a long time). When I came out the sun was setting so I looked for a place where I could see the sunset, which promised a bit of color. I found a parking lot overlooking Interstate 270 and took a dozen or so pictures through a chain link fence. It’s not the most spectacular sunset I’ve seen (even this week) but it was still pretty intense.

Lake Needwood at Dusk

This evening the sunset wasn’t nearly as spectacular as last night but it was still quite pretty. I happened to be coming home via Needwood Road and stopped at Lake Needwood to take a few pictures. It was a bit darker than I would have liked and the sun was just hitting the tops of the trees on the far bank, but the sky was a beautiful blue and the wispy clouds over the lake were really nice. This was taken from right beside the road, standing on the low guardrail to give me a tiny bit of extra height.

Sunset

I drove back from Boston today, having returned Dorothy to school for the spring semester. There had been mixed rain and snow overnight and there was ice on the parking lot when I got up. Once out on the roads, there were no real problems with the weather, though. The sky was clear in the morning and once I got away from Boston and the stop-and-go traffic on Interstate 95 things were fine. Late in the day I was driving directly into the lowering sun, which was tiring, but it meant that the sunset was directly in front of me as the sun sank into the west. It really was quite magnificent.

After The Rain

We had a pretty strong rainstorm this afternoon. It had been drizzling pretty much all day and then at about 3:00 it really came down. We heard that there was a rainbow and I saw some pictures that were amazing. We didn’t see it where we were, though.

I took some pictures while it was raining. I love the soft colors during a rainstorm. I also lover the sound of rain. If it isn’t too cold, I love being outside when it’s raining. Today was cool but not cold and it was quite warm inside so I enjoyed being outdoors in the rain.

It didn’t rain too long and as the rain stopped, the clouds started to clear and the sun was shining through and reflecting on the water in the parking lot at church. Quite a different feel from when it was raining. But pretty in a different way. A change from soft, muted colors it became dramatic with bright and intense colors.

Brief Afternoon Blueness

It rained quite a bit today, off and on all morning. It had the look of a day that will be dreary for the duration. However, there was a brief episode of clearing at about 4:00 this afternoon. I was fortunate enough to turn around and look out the window and see it. The clouds were puffy and white, the sky between them was a deep, lovely blue, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful evening. By the time I left work, though, it was overcast and grey again (but not actually raining).

Pond Reflections

Cathy and I went up to Pennsylvania with my mom, brother, and sister-in-law today to cut Christmas trees. It’s probably silly to go so far to cut trees but it’s become something of a tradition. Before going to get our trees, we stopped for a little while at the farm. It was a pretty day, with dramatic clouds and I took a few pictures of the pond, reflecting the trees and the clouds quite nicely. This is my favorite of the bunch. After getting our trees we stopped for lunch at Ott House in Emmitsburg on the way home.

Sun Through The Fog

This morning, as I was leaving for work (and running about 15 minutes late), I enjoyed the sight of the sun, streaming through a light fog that was just about to finish burning off. I had noticed the fog earlier but it was so thin, I didn’t think much of it in terms of photography. But the light in the fog out our front door was nice, so I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. Here you are.

Another Sunset From My Office

Once again I had meant to go out during the day and take some pictures but once again I got busy and by the time I thought to go out, the light was failing. Actually, the sun was setting. Fortunately, there was a little color in the sky and by looking at an angle out my window I was able to see some clouds, lit by the setting sun.

It isn’t a particularly spectacular sunset, but it’s a sunset and better than nothing.