Tag Archives: clouds

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wet

Do you speak in images? Enjoy taking photos to document your experiences or just to express what you notice in the world? Love to share them with others? Welcome to the weekly photo challenge! I post a new challenge each week…check in regularly and join the fun!

Here in Southern California we’re in the third year of drought conditions…and our normal rainfall is only ten inches annually, so you know it’s dry.  So when we get a forecast of rain, it’s an event!  Yesterday we were hearing the news of the storm that hit Northern California and watched the clouds begin to gather on our own horizon.  I love the drama of the clouds yesterday afternoon along the coast with the lifeguard tower in the foreground.

lifeguard station and clouds

As promised, rain arrived this morning.  The morning commute was quite an adventure with dark clouds and rain making it look almost like nighttime at 7:00am!  My windshield wipers raced and my tires created plumes of water as I drove through the rain pooling in large puddles in the street.

rainy morning

And in spite of the leaky roof in my classroom and a rainy day schedule with kids spending their recesses and lunch in the classroom, we had a great day.  And we so need the rain!  Lucky for all of us, we were able to head outdoors for Friday afternoon Cardio Club…into the sunshine with blue skies in evidence!

cardio club

After school I couldn’t resist heading toward the beach to take a few pictures of the clouds and sun along the coast.  This view is looking south near the mouth of the lagoon.

beach clouds

And even though it hadn’t rained in a few hours, when I arrived at home and opened my car door my eye was drawn to the raindrops on the clover-like grass growing in my lawn.  These truly precious wet jewels glistened in the afternoon sun against the green of the grass.

raindrops on grass

Where do you find the wet in your world?  (And I’d love to learn some techniques to take better photos of rain!)  It could be on your dishes as you wash them, trickling down that festive holiday cocktail, in your pet’s water bowl, or outside…in your yard, community or the natural spaces around you.

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #wet for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

So follow the water and find where it pools…what does wet look like through your lens?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Skyward

Do you speak in images? Enjoy taking photos to document your experiences or just to express what you notice in the world? Love to share them with others? Welcome to the weekly photo challenge! I post a new challenge each week…check in regularly and join the fun!

This week I have found my eye drawn skyward.  Maybe it’s because we have had some weather in the first time in ages!  I’ve been noticing the gathering clouds, and the way the light plays with them.

Over the weekend, before the storm headed in this week, I noticed the sliver of the moon hanging above the Christmas tree decorating the local mall.

Christmas tree and moon

And a few minutes later I noticed the way the jet contrail and the moon were playing hide and seek.  I took several shots waiting for the moon to peek out.

contrail and moon

By Sunday, more clouds began to gather creating a soft, white, and puffy backdrop for the palms dancing in the increasing breezes.

puffy clouds and palms

And here you can see the sun shining through the clouds, highlighting this brilliant orange bird of paradise growing in a meditation garden on the cliffs above the ocean.

bird of paradise and sun

On my way home from work on Monday, it was clear that the promised storm was on its way.  I stopped by the beach, unable to resist the textures in the sky meeting up with the textures of the water.  Blue on blue on blue…

blue ocean and sky

And I’m not even sure which day this week I looked up in my front yard and spied the moon lighting up the tree.

tree and moon

After two days of much-needed rain, watching the sun break through this morning while I was on playground duty brought a smile to my lips…and the sound of children playing outdoors filled the air.

morning skyWhat do you see when you look skyward?  Is the moon peeking through the trees?  Can you spy hints of weather to come?  Do buildings interact with the clouds and sun?  How does light enter the mix?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #skyward for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

So crane your neck and look skyward this week.  I can’t wait to see skyward through your lens!

Clouds and Rain: Objects of Fascination

It seems that we always yearn for what we don’t have.  Around Christmas time I was fascinated by snow…I longed to try my hand at capturing a macro photo of a single snowflake.  But I live in a place where it never snows…I didn’t see snow fall from the sky until I was well into adulthood and I have never had a white Christmas.

This last week some of my fellow photographers at the iAnthology have been posting pictures of snow and ice in response to the prompt, Playing with Light.  One particular photo of an icicle lingers in my mind and I find myself wishing for an opportunity to photograph ice…and the play of light…for myself.  And then my teaching partner emailed me a link to some photos created by a man on snowshoes…intricate, gorgeous designs…made by his intentional walk on snow.  Oh…I know a trip to somewhere cold is in my future!

But I live in Southern CA…in a place where we are having a drought and unseasonably warm winter temperatures.  More people are wearing shorts and flip flops than sweatshirts and Uggs…and umbrellas have been stashed or lost or are coated in the dust and grime caused by lack of use.

The last couple of days have teased us with hopes of rain.  The air is moist and fog has been rolling in along the coast in the mornings and evenings.  And yesterday we had some hints of rain…that misty mess that muddies the windshield but doesn’t produce any measurable precipitation.

I awoke this morning wondering if it had rained overnight.  The app on my phone said no…and gave no suggestion of rain for the day.  But as I was dressing for no rain, planning to wear the kind of shoes you wouldn’t choose on a rainy day, my husband came upstairs to announce that it was, in fact, raining!

I rethought my wardrobe for the day, choosing my boots instead of my Toms, and headed out the door.  For those of you who live where rain is common, you would probably laugh that we were considering this rain at all.  But the first objects that caught my eye as I walked out the door were the poinsettias near the front door.  They were glistening with drops of rain.  I immediately pulled out my phone and began to photograph the droplets glistening on the bracts.

photo-85

I love the way the black and white photo draws attention to the precious drops–something we see so rarely these days.

Honestly, this “rainy day” turned out to be not so rainy after all.  I would be surprised if we even measure a quarter inch of rainfall in the county.  But as I left work today, I found myself drawn to the clouds.  In some directions the clouds were white and wispy, sitting in a backdrop of blue.  In others, they gathered in tall white towers…and in others, gray and black framed the edges.

photo-86

I was compelled to drive towards the clouds on my way home…and pulled off to the side of the road to attempt to capture the complexity of the clouds with my phone’s camera.  The clouds became the object of my fascination and I took shot after shot, trying different angles to take advantage of the varieties of light available.

I don’t think I am done with clouds yet.  And I hope the clouds are not done with us yet either.  We desperately need some rain, although the forecast doesn’t look promising.

What is the object of fascination for you right now?  Is it something within reach…or are you yearning for something you don’t have?  I’d love to know more about your object!

A Change in the Weather

The weather in San Diego is regular…regularly mild and as the weather reporters on the nightly news say, “Night and morning low clouds, with afternoon sunshine.”  Or something to that effect.

So when our weather changes, it is an event.

Today started out cool and overcast.  One of my first graders told me how freezing it was as we walked to the classroom this morning.  She was dressed in a short sleeved t-shirt, jeans, flats without socks, and a faux-fur lined vest.  In contrast, I was wearing a cotton sweater with a corduroy jacket and a windbreaker-like jacket over the top of that and a knit scarf around my neck…along with my slacks, short boots and socks.  I’ve learned over the years to layer since mornings are cool and the day usually warms up.

When I left my school at midday to head off to the university for the other part of my job, I carried my jacket and scarf…but knew I would bring them inside with me when I arrived.

And I’m so glad I did!  By the time I left the university it was raining!  I pulled the hood up on my jacket and tried to figure out how to capture a photo of the rain.  (It continues to look invisible through my camera lens).  Students walking across campus had their sweatshirt hoods up…but there were no umbrellas in sight!

As I got into my car I was hoping that I was ahead of the rush hour traffic.  Remember, the slightest moisture in San Diego brings out the crazy in drivers.

The rain had diminished before I got very far down the road…but as I got closer to home the clouds were mesmerizing.  Big, white clouds were layered with gray clouds that looked like the stuffing from grandma’s quilt.  As I drove, I was thinking about where I could get off the road to try to capture the beauty of the clouds.  (And it is not okay to stop on the freeway!)

I pulled off near my school, watching the streaks of sun shining through the clouds along the coast.  I drove to a spot I see most mornings where tall thin palm trees stand like sentinels overlooking the sea.

photo

And I captured this view looking out to the ocean where the sun was getting ready to set on this short December day.

Change in the weather also means a change in the view…and it was spectacular this evening!  I like the way that change brings a new energy with it.  I can see it in my students when we change up the routines or like today, embark on a new topic of study.

As I look for new photo opportunities, I appreciate change even more than ever.  A fresh view, a new angle, a different frame, a change in the light…they all offer opportunities for photographic magic.  Just like change in the classroom creates new spaces for learning magic…and routines serve as anchors when the seas get rough.

I love the regularity of our weather here…and I love when it changes.  And I still need to learn how to capture a photo of rain…  Now to wait for another one of those rare occasions…