Photo of the Day by A. F. Litt: Day of Several Photos - July 19, 2016
This is shot from a small talus cave along the Presidential Trail at Mount Rushmore. An interesting little spot on a spectacular walk.
Today, I plan on burning through several photos, filling in some of the gaps in the National Parks section of the website (http://aflitt.com/NationalParks). I am not sure how many I will get through, but there should be several "photo of the day" posts today.
Smoke from the Cascade Creek Fire near Mt. Adams. Big Lava Bed. Skamania Co. Washington. September 16, 2012. Photo of the Day by A. F. Litt: September 17, 2012.
Hoping to see some aurora tonight. Usually we are too far south, too close to the city, and living in Oregon which means that the skies are more often than not hidden by clouds. But we can still hope.
Tonight, it is clear and misty and we have the brightest full moon I’ve seen in ages. Actually, it’s the brightest I’ve seen it since the peak of the Perseids meteor shower last summer, which was almost completely blanked by yet another full moon.
This flare was very powerful, and blasted out a wave of particles that’s expected to hit Earth sometime tonight after midnight EST (the exact time is difficult to determine). We’ll be OK down here on Earth, but there may be sporadic communication issues, power outages (maybe), and aurorae. If you’re on Google+, Camilla Corona SDO is the person to follow. She has updates and great links!
Take a closer look at the flare that erupted on March 6, 2012.
This movie of the March 6, 2012 X5.4 flare was captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in the 171 and 131 Angstrom wavelength. One of the most dramatic features is the way the entire surface of the sun seems to ripple with the force of the eruption. This movement comes from something called EIT waves -- because they were first discovered with the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) on the Solar Heliospheric Observatory. Since SDO captures images every 12 seconds, it has been able to map the full evolution of these waves and confirm that they can travel across the full breadth of the sun. The waves move at over a million miles per hour, zipping from one side of the sun to the other in about an hour. The movie shows two distinct waves. The first seems to spread in all directions; the second is narrower, moving toward the southeast. Such waves are associated with, and perhaps trigger, fast coronal mass ejections, so it is likely that each one is connected to one of the two CMEs that erupted on March 6.
The Space Prediction Center expects that we are in a favorable pattern for at least the next week to potentially bring more solar storms to the earth. What is not known is the magnitude of future events. What is expected is quite a show from the Northern Lights Wednesday night and Thursday night, which may be visible as far south as Michigan and Illinois.
For North America, the good part of a solar storm, the one that creates more noticeable auroras or Northern Lights, will peak Thursday evening in North America. Auroras could dip as far south as the Great Lakes between Canada and the United States or lower, Kunches said, but a full moon will make them harder to see.
Auroras are "probably the treat we get when the sun erupts," Kunches said.
Still, the potential for problems is widespread. Solar storms have three ways they can disrupt technology on Earth: with magnetic, radio and radiation emissions. This is an unusual situation, when all three types of solar storm disruptions are likely to be strong, Kunches said. That makes it the strongest overall since December 2006.
This is a clip from the Discovery Channel show Frozen Planet, and if that’s the sort of thing they’ll have on the program, it’s definitely worth a watch.
Because I love each and every one of you, here is a fantastic portrait of two worlds: Saturn and its ginormous moon Titan, courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft:
If you want to see those pictures Craig and I were looking at and find out more about them, I’ve written about all three: Picture 1(Rudolph), Picture 2 (the star spewing jets of gas that Craig made fun of), and Picture 3 (the cluster of galaxies with the swoosh of gas). I’ve heard from a few folks with the Chandra Observatory – the one that took the last picture — and they were thrilled it got press. I’m wondering if they had their volume turned all the way down when they watched…
That is enough semi-plagiarism for tonight. Time to go and look at the sky.
Satellite imagery used to be the exclusive domain of governments and spy agencies, but ever since Google Maps and Google Earth we can all get to see weird things! Fancy a look at Area 51? Wondered what it’s like in downtown Moscow? Or maybe you want to check out the Principality of Sealand? These are just ordinary, everyday things that millions of people use Google Maps and Earth to research every day. But what about the things you weren’t supposed to see, the freaks of camera? Here are 17 of the most bizarre sights for you to laugh at, complete with lat/lons and (where possible) KMLs. Enjoy.
Some videos on editing this film and some preview clips. Yes. This is why I am very excited about the possibility of getting a better camera for Christmas. I’d like to start putting together some video projects like this.
Maybe not quite at this level, but just for fun, for me.
I’ve been stalling on my One Day On Earth video all day. Partially, it is because I am frustrated with the image resolution of the video clips (mostly, I am sick of the song I am using)…
I am not looking at moving all the way up into the 4K and 5K range that Lowe is working in, but it would / will be nice to hit the full 1080 HD mark.
Anyway… Here’s the clips. I posted one of them earlier, but I thought they deserved their own post.
This is production footage from my forthcoming debut film, "TimeScapes," a portrait of the American Southwest. This video was filmed and edited at 4K (4096x2304) resolution, four times greater than regular 1080p HD. A 4K DCP file is available upon request. Shot on Red Epic and Canon RAW still cameras.
You can pre-order the movie "TimeScapes" here: timescapes.org/pre_order.asp
Follow the film here:
1) twitter.com/timescapes
2) facebook.com/TimeScapes
3) gplus.to/tomlowe
If you have a 30" monitor and fast computer you can download a 2560x1440 copy of this video here: red.cachefly.net/TimeScapes4K2560p.mp4
4K version only if you have a 4K monitor or projector: coming soon.
Here is a 4K version on youtube: youtu.be/e-GYrbecb88
Thank you to Terrence Malick and Godfrey Reggio for their support and inspiration. Also thanks to Eric Kessler, Curt Morgan, Jim Jannard, Vincent Laforet, Bruce Allen, Phil Plait, Dave Finley, and to Helio Collective for the beautiful title logo. My most sincere and humble respect to Mark Magidson and Ron Fricke.
After 7+ years of orbiting Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft is still knockin’ ‘em out of the park. On October 19 it swung by the icy moon Enceladus, taking dozens of amazing images of the little world. When it was 65,000 km (40,000 miles) away, it took this shot, right out of Star Wars:
I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love, or seen the movie, and I do not plan to. In many ways, the little I know about this story makes me want to eat a bullet, regurgitate it, shoot a few people with it, and then eat it for a final time...
Yeah, an upper middle class whatever having an identity crisis who travels and happens to find themselves in foreign lands and lovers... Damn, sign me up for some of that style of angst. Maybe I have it wrong. I am guilty of contempt prior to investigation on this one.
But her talk is very, very good. Yes, it is the person who wrote the book I hate (only on principal), and that attitude I hate comes across in the talk from time to time, but I do think she nails this talk.
I very much relate to the ideas of the muse as she discusses them, of attributing our creativity to an outside source, to an outside spirit "daemon" or "genius." She mentions that spooky feeling a lot of writers, musicians, and other artists and performers get when they are working, the feeling that the words and music and ideas and whatever else applies seem to be coming from a place outside of themselves... Many authors have written many books subtly and not so subtly (Stephen King's The Dark Half) exploring this phenomenon.
And I think she is absolutely correct in her hypothesis that the loss of the idea of the outside muse has been putting pressures on many artists that have been making them miserable and, quite literally, killing them young for the last 500 years... The 27 Club and all that.
I like how she meekly proposes returning to the old ideas about the outside "genius" being the source of creativity, though she fears that it would be a hard sell to rational minds, returning to the idea that our creativity was "basically fairies who follow people around rubbing fairy juice on their projects and stuff."
For me, it is much more simple, it just comes from God. Not to much of a hard sell to the masses with that concept, either.
This is particularly easy for me to remember and comprehend these days since most of my creative work this year has been nature photography. I just point the camera at something that I know I did not create and hope for the best. Sure, I decide a few things about how to set up the shot, but really, it is pretty hard to take bad photos of most of my subjects. In fact, when taking my photos, I worry a lot less about how to take a good picture and a lot more about how not to mess it up.
She sums it all up perfectly, calling those rare, wonderful, uncanny moments of pure genius and inspiration what I firmly believe them to truly be, and that is nothing more or less than a fleeting "a glimpse of God" him, her, or itself.
There is more here worth watching... This one is worth a look, in spite of the speaker's resume.
If you doubt, the quote in the title is from Tom Waits and an interview she had with him where he discussed how he, finally, came to deal with the pressures of his muse. That bit of the talk is priceless. Come back later, he told the idea in his head, "Otherwise go bother someone else today. Go bother Leonard Cohen."
This shorter talk is pretty good too, if you have a few more minutes to spare... The speaker is pretty annoying, but her art is actually fascinating.
... love the song and the creativity of the video by Kina Grannis. Shows you what you can do over the course of 22 months (1,357 hours) with 30 people, 2 ladders, 1 still camera and 288,000 jelly beans. Can you ever have too many jelly beans, I think not. #cool
Just neat... Many photos via the flikr link below!
flikr: The Last March of the Ents (Taken from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, this Lego model displays the epic battle as depicted in the film version)
This LEGO recreation of the battle of the Ents from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is seven feet tall, has an eight-foot-diameter, contains 22,000 plastic bricks, and weighs 145 pounds. This sculpture consists of 23 treefolk, over 100 orcs, and one Saruman.
Photo of the Day, September 20, 2011. Taken June 28, 2011. Vista House through a Coin-Op Scope. Portland Women's Forum Viewpoint, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.
Update: 10:00 PM - September 21, 2011 Well, I lost track by a day and this was the 200th Photo of the Day! I thought it was going to be today's... So, in honor of reaching 200 yesterday, I am taking today off (from pictures, at least)!
