Some days and in some places you just have to look up.  I’m always surprised and fascinated by what I see when I look at the sky.  The sky here where I live is often blue (or almost invisible when cloaked in the gray of a thick marine layer), so when puffy white clouds appear, I notice.

Last weekend I couldn’t help but notice that the sky almost seemed like the sea with these colorful octopi floating in the foamy white of the clouds.  Kites mimicking the ocean below.

Drones have become prevalent in our skies along the coast.  During the surf contest a few weeks ago I counted four at one time hovering over the heads of the surfers.  I couldn’t resist this sign–not in the sky–restricting drones from the sky at our local state beach.  I suspect they are restricted here because this is a path often used by military aircraft flying back and forth from Miramar Air Station.

I had the opportunity to spend time in the Denver area this week as I worked with National Writing Project colleagues.  Somehow at “mile high” altitude, the clouds seem closer.  I noticed them as I waited to take the light rail from our conference center into the city, billowing above the pedestrian bridge.

I noticed the clouds and the sky reflected in the towering glass buildings when I explored downtown Denver.

The sky fell away from my focus as my eyes followed the lines of this structure up, up and up.  I turned this way and that with my camera trying the capture the size and wonder of this…I’m not even sure what it is…going from the ground high into the sky.

And there is never enough time.  Time to explore new places, to chat with friends and colleagues, to work on interesting project…and much too soon I found myself back at the Denver airport.  From the windows of the car as I arrived my eyes were drawn to the peaks of the white sails against the stacked pillows of clouds and I wished I could just ask the driver to pull over so I could take some photos, but I resisted, capturing that image only in my mind.  But as I walked into the airport, I caught a glimpse of one sail peak and some clouds reflected in the glass of the airport building and I stopped.  The contrast of the angular lines of steel and glass with the curves of the tower and the organic billows of clouds captured my imagination.  I find myself coming back to this image.

Once near my gate, I kept walking, noticing large windows in the distance.  Would I get another glimpse at the sky?  Could I capture the closeness of the clouds and vastness of the sky through the airport windows?  Not really.  But here is a fragment of the sky as seen through the window of the Denver airport.

So, this is your week to look at the sky.  What does it have to offer in terms of photographic interest?  Will you be looking at summer blue skies or the threat of storms brewing in the distance?  Maybe you’ll focus on a bird or an airplane or a balloon floating, soaring, diving.  As always, you get to choose.

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 #sky for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

So grab your camera and point it toward the sky.  Be sure to share what you find with the rest of us!