Solar Eclipse 20.3.15 - An Alternative View

Here is a view of today's solar eclipse in a way you definintely won't have seen in all those shots which have flooded the media today! Foget the images of a perfect white crescent on a black background, this is an image captured from above the clouds just at the end of totality.

We just happened to be booked onto a flight from Manchester to Rekjavik at 7.45 this morning and it dawned on us that we woud be passing through the region of totality at about 9.30, high above the Atlantic and close to the Faroe Islands.

We left on flight EZY1805 under the command of Captain, Daniel Marshall (based at Gatwick) and First Officer, James Hope (based at Manchester) Unfortunately we had experienced a little unexpected turbulence during the early part of the flight which wasn't very promising. Sadly, the eclipse was happening right behind us, but a cheer went up when the captain announced that special permission had been given for just us and also the Luton Easyjet flight, to circle twice over Faroe Islands region during totality. The sky began to go dark and a daytime sunset spread across the horizon. Unfortunately, the 2x window seats that we had requested for our party of 4 had been booked as 1x and our daughter (the birthday girl) wogged the window seat, leaving me to lean across as best I could whilst the plane continued two circuits (and not forgetting bumps!) in an attempt to give all passengers a glimpse of the eclipse. I could only anticipate when it might come into oblique view.

Of course, I was after the perfect white crescent on a black background - who wouldn't? But with a moving target, a moving platform and a limited view, I woud have to content myself with with whatever I could get...and I got something that probably few others would ever get.

As the sun emerged from the short-lived totality, the bright sunlight burst at the camera (I was of course being careful not to look through the viewfinder).

The refracted tiny image above the sunburst revealing the eclipse status.

I only managed to fire off a couple of bounced-around shots before it all disappeared from my line of sight again. Unsure what I may or may not have captured, it was only when reviewing my images, I realised I had indeed captured the eclipse - albeit an indirect image. This sunburst had created a tiny image or two of the sun, refracted within the twin-skin windows, and clearly showing the crescent status. Whilst it will win no prizes, I can truly say that this was taken from a unique location and viewed in a way I will never see the like of again.

A special birthday show for our daughter - Happy birthday E!

"EasyJet passengers flying to Iceland from the UK on Friday are set to be amongst a select group people anywhere in the world to have a front row seat of one the most spectacular natural phenomenon’s - a total solar eclipse."

https://twitter.com/easyJet/status/578979431433170944/photo/1

https://twitter.com/airlivenet/status/578864502990585856

Oystercatcher Aqua Study - Series

A late evening walk down to the other strand and these arty shots happened on their own due to the low light / long exposure. I just went with it. The only editing done here is a minimal crop, the levels and a slight colour balance to ensure continuity with all four images.

Sometimes simple is best.

Open Studio 2014

Open Studios is upon us again. Well actually, to be precise, Saffron Walden Open Studios.

As some of you regular followers know, I have 'Open-Studioed' in the past but due to a number of factors, I have opted for this earlier and smaller affair of the Saffron Walden event this year, rather than the big Summer event linked with Cambridge.

However, the important information for now is that I open my doors in the morning...

Saturday 26th April
from
11 am to 6pm

and again on

Sunday 27th April

Hope I might see some of you over the weekend, and if that isn't enough, I do the whole thing again next weekend too!

I don't wish to directly publish the addresses of all of the Open Studio participants (including my studio) here but all the information you need to find us is contained in this link.

During the week, I will update you with how things are going and exactly why I am doing an Open Studio but first, here is a glimpse back at a couple of pictures (thanks to himself) from last night, when a class crowd came to support me on my Private View night. Thanks all!

Day 14 - August Challenge

Challenge - "How about quartz for number 14 as it contains silicon and silicon is number 14 in the periodic table?"

Suggested by - Su via blog

Perplexed!
That was me on the run-up to todays challenge. How could I photograph that material which, for one, we know exists inside our common or garden clocks?
I started with a bit of research.
-It is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust.
-There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones.
-There are two basic kinds of quartz:
   1. Crystalline includes amethyst, cairngorm, rock crystal, and rose quartz
   2. Cryptocrystalline and includes agate, bloodstone, carnelian, flint, jasper, onyx, and sardonyx.

Wait! What was that? Flint?

Well Su, if you linked '14 on the periodic table is silicon' with 'silicon is found in quartz', then I am going to play my artisitc licence card, May I go one more tenuous step to flint please?

According to research (aka Wikipedia) "Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz"

OK, so no worries about taking clocks apart! I could go on the seach for something that is very abundant in this area. After all, we are on top of a chalk substrait and flint is commonly found in chalk, hence the preponderance to use it as a building material in this region. Even our town church is built of the glassy or sometimes waxy looking mineral, which comes in a variety of colours: dark grey, black, green, white, or brown. And the church is where I headed to take today's image of - flint.

So, after the very distinct image from yesterday, today we have something much more abstract.

You almost had me beat, Su!


The grab shot

My thanks to:
Su for her suggestion




Tomorrow, Day 14

"For a 12 year-old birthday boy"

Remember

After all the hype in the run-up to yesterday, it is often forgotten that November is the month to remember all of those who, by natural, tragic or by whatever causes, have let go of this precarious thing called life.

Remember.
It starts today.

To Autumn II

A couple of abstracts of these two-inch-wonders that appear over night in the current mild, moist conditions.

Water Under the Bridge

Since this time last week, so much water has passed under the bridge.

Let us hope for calm on the other side of this narrowing.

Easter Greetings

 

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Plane or Patterned?

Layers of bark pattern, topped off by a branching shadow pattern.

It is both plane and patterned.

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I know some of you have been having difficulty doing this through the blog, so try this:-
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Birdwatch Weekend

This weekend is the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, so naturally I thought I should enter into the spirit of things with some garden bird images.

I would love it if someone could explain to me why it is, after years of having to fill the nut feeder on a daily basis, the very same nut feeder now hangs full for months on end? This is an observation made over the last couple of years. Either there just aren't the birds around any more or there is an outside factor (feline perchance?) that declares this particular avian cafe as a no-go area.

Thankfully, due to my thoughtfulness (or rather, laziness) in not stripping out all the expired flowers in the Autumn, one bird species does return to our cafe on a regular basis. Goldfinches choose the slightly damp days to flock to the teasle and evening primrose seed heads, when extraction is clearly much easier. On occasions, there have been over a dozen at any one time and it makes for a spectacular display, with flashes of red and gold at this moving feast. Hence my choice of images. Not the usual portraits, which have a merit of their own, but instead, an abstract interpretation that highlights the busy habit with the grace and beauty of these colourful little garden visitors.