A cold night for early season’s greetings

Posted by Photonstopper on November 29, 2018
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Photo: The gazebo at the center of Public Square, Medina, Ohio, all dressed up for the holidays! Photo by James Guilford.

The gazebo at the center of Public Square, Medina, Ohio, all dressed up for the holidays!

It was worth braving the 24°F temperature to pay a return visit to Public Square Wednesday night, camera and tripod at-hand, to shoot some holiday pics! The recent official tree lighting was fun but, with the large and excited crowd, not a good time to set up the camera for long exposures. I’m hoping one of these, or other of my non-holiday shots will be published in the city’s bicentennial book.

Photo: Buildings along North Court Street, Medina, Ohio, are outlined in lights with windows dressed for the holiday season. Photo by James Guilford.

Buildings along North Court Street, Medina, Ohio, are outlined in lights with windows dressed for the holiday season.

Besides the brilliantly-lit iconic gazebo, the buildings around and near Medina’s historic town center are outlined in white lights, lights are strung in the branches of sidewalk trees, and most businesses have decorated their storefront windows. It’s a little early in the holiday season but the sights were worth cold fingers and feet.

Photo: South Court Street viewed from Public Square, Medina, showcases businesses and buildings in their holiday finery. Photo by James Guilford.

South Court Street viewed from Public Square, Medina, showcases businesses and buildings in their holiday finery.

Times Remembered

Posted by Photonstopper on November 9, 2018
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Photo: Times Remembered. Rustic items sit on a porch under patriotic bunting lit by late-day sun. Photo by James Guilford

Times Remembered. Rustic items sit on a porch under patriotic bunting lit by late-day sun.

A beautiful autumn day, a rarity this year, presented an excellent opportunity for a little walk. Exploring the area in the late afternoon was a pleasure and offered a few opportunities to record what I saw. My favorite sight and photo of the day was the porch of an ochre-colored house. Antiques and rustic items lined the outside walls, a patriotic fan bunting glowed in the natural spotlight of sun through trees.

Photo: Golden Glow. Late-afternoon sun highlights a cluster of yellow tree leaves. Photo by James Guilford.

Golden Glow. Late-afternoon sun highlights a cluster of yellow tree leaves.

Three eagles, two photos

Posted by Photonstopper on October 3, 2018
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Photo: Juvenile American Bald Eagle. Photo by James Guilford.

A juvenile American Bald Eagle (One of two seen Wednesday!) glides on the updrafts along the shoreline at Lake Metroparks Lake Erie Bluffs park.

Sighting an American Bald Eagle in Northern Ohio was once, not that long ago, seeing a rare bird. Fortunately the eagle population is growing and sightings are more common, though still thrilling.

A juvenile American Bald Eagle glided on the updrafts along the shoreline at the Lake Metroparks Lake Erie Bluffs park. While we eventually saw two eagles of the same apparent age, I was only able to photograph (above) this one; I believe it to be in its first year. The distinctive white head and tail feathers take about five years to fully develop.

A mature American Bald Eagle soars over Sheldon Marsh State Park, Huron, Ohio.

On an earlier September visit to Sheldon Marsh State Park, Huron, Ohio a mature American Bald Eagle soared majestically over exciting visitors as it fished the shallow waters on a Sunday afternoon. We saw the bird swoop in low over open waters, apparently missing the fish it had spotted, then climbing high to continue its patrol of the wetlands. Other visitors saw the bird catch a fish, only to have it escape. Even a fierce predator misses most of the time.

Storm Passed By: Rural Wayne County, Ohio.

Posted by Photonstopper on October 1, 2018
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Photo: A severe thunderstorm passes to the south of a farm in rural Wayne County, Ohio as bright sunshine illuminates barn and field. Photo by James Guilford.

A severe thunderstorm passes to the south of a farm in rural Wayne County, Ohio as bright sunshine illuminates barn and field.

One good thing came from my extended storm chase that afternoon. While my hopes of spotting a powerful approaching storm were washed away by torrential rains, the drive home revealed the beautiful contrast between peaceful, sunlit farm scene and a threatening sky. — September 21, 2018

There’s no place like home

Posted by Photonstopper on October 1, 2018
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Photo: The thunderhead of a passing storm with mounds of mammatus clouds beneath. Photo by James Guilford.

The thunderhead of a passing storm with mounds of mammatus clouds beneath.

So I went out chasing what promised to be a big, powerful thunderstorm about 30 miles away only to be greeted by a wall of water. I get home, have dinner, and discover I’m under a gigantic thunderhead with cirrus fringes and gobs of beautiful mammatus beneath all surrounded by a beautiful blue sky. Storm chaser Dorothy was right, “There’s no place like home.” — September 21, 2018

Photo: Approaching rainstorm in Wayne County, Ohio. Photo by James Guilford.

That’s not fog that car is headed towards — it’s a “wall of water — torrential rain about to descend upon your intrepid photographer ending his remote storm pursuit.

Eyes of the past

Posted by Photonstopper on September 13, 2018
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We saw many beautiful things on a recent visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Among the beautiful objects was a pair of funerary portraits: one of a young man painted about 138 – 192 AD, the other a young woman painted some time in that same period. The subjects’ gaze is haunting, their faces are at once attractive and lost; they could be our friends or neighbors but are now separated from us by nearly two millennia. Eyes of the present meet eyes of the past and we mourn a man and a woman we cannot know.

Photo: "Funerary Portrait of a Man", about AD 138 - 192, Egypt, Roman Empire, Antonine, Cleveland Museum of Art

“Funerary Portrait of a Man”, about AD 138 – 192, Encaustic on Linen, Egypt, Roman Empire, Antonine, Cleveland Museum of Art

 

Photo: "Funerary Portrait of a Woman", about AD 138 - 192, Encaustic on Linen, Egypt, Roman Empire, Antonine, Cleveland Museum of Art

“Funerary Portrait of a Woman”, about AD 138 – 192, Encaustic on Linen, Egypt, Roman Empire, Antonine, Cleveland Museum of Art

 

Funerary Portraits: “So-called mummy portraits were apparently painted during the owners’ lives and hung in their homes. At the time of the owner’s death, the portrait was taken down, cut from its frame, and trimmed to fit the deceased’s mummy, to which it was bound. It was at that time also that the gilding on the center painting was added.” — Description by the Cleveland Museum of Art

Encaustic? Wax painting. See WikiPedia.

Sunset storm

Posted by Photonstopper on August 27, 2018
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Photo: Thunderbird. Clouds of the approaching storm spread across the western sky. Photo by James Guilford.

Thunderbird. Clouds of the approaching storm spread across the western sky.

A well-defined line of storms was headed our way and looked like a good possibility for shelf cloud photos, so I headed out in the early evening to intercept the storm.

Image: Radar Image of the Approaching Weather

Radar Image of the Approaching Weather – My Location Near Center

Things don’t always work out the way one expects and that may be especially true with weather. The rule proved true but I wasn’t terribly disappointed because of the way things worked out.

Photo: Evening Flight. Sunset colors illuminate the clouds. A tiny dot in the upper right-hand area of this image is an airliner on an evening flight. Photo by James Guilford.

Evening Flight. Sunset colors illuminate the clouds. A tiny dot in the upper right-hand area of this image is an airliner on an evening flight.

I could hear rumbles of thunder to the north and caught a glimpse of two lightning bolts: one from cloud to ground, the other within a gap in the clouds. But as the line of storms came nearer, the sun was sinking lower reducing the energy driving the weather. While the prospects of strong storm images dimmed, the developing sunset lit the roiling clouds in beautiful and unexpected ways.

Photo: Fiery Wave. A swirl of storm clouds lit by sunset. Photo by James Guilford.

Fiery Wave. A swirl of storm clouds lit by sunset.

Storm clouds moved and swirled as they passed across the western sky and rolled overhead, changing from minute to minute. No shelf cloud to be had but the show was wonderful.

Photo: Maw of the Storm. Colors fading and clouds closing in. Photo by James Guilford.

Maw of the Storm. Colors fading and clouds closing in.

All but ended, clouds closed in ending the evening’s show, the conclusion of a glorious sunset storm.

Photo: Darkness Falls. Clouds cover the sky and the blue of nightfall tints the scene. Photo by James Guilford.

Darkness Falls. Clouds cover the sky and the blue of nightfall tints the scene.

Waiting for meteors, again…

Posted by Photonstopper on August 13, 2018
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Photo: Sword of Mars: A bright Perseid meteor streaks to the left of planet Mars. Photo by James Guilford.

Sword of Mars: A bright Perseid meteor streaks to the left of planet Mars. You can see constellation Sagittarius just above the glow along the treeline.

This year’s Perseids meteor shower peak bridged two nights and sky conditions promised to be better Sunday than Saturday’s cloudy mess. So, off I went again to wait for meteors. On the recommendation of fellow skywatchers, I headed to a nearby Ohio state park which has a spot with the reputation of distant horizons and darker skies than we’re used to; that turned out to be true.

It was a long night at Findley State Park. The Perseids didn’t seem particularly active and really didn’t become noticeable until after 11:00 but there were a few showy fireballs to be enjoyed. I managed to capture a couple of bright meteors over the several hours I spent standing on the dam, looking up — my neck is still sore — and having all of my equipment getting covered in heavy dew. I finally left at 1:30 AM when all of my lenses had become fogged up and showed no sign of clearing.

Photo: Here is an extremely bright, and very slow fireball just within the right edge of the frame. I remember the streak appearing warm in color, yellowish, but the camera recorded the spectral colors you see here. The lights near the bottom of the picture are artificial lights onshore, not reflections of stars. Photo by James Guilford.

Here is an extremely bright, and very slow fireball just within the right edge of the frame. I remember the streak appearing warm in color, yellowish, but the camera recorded the spectral colors you see here. The lights near the bottom of the picture are artificial lights onshore, not reflections of stars.

Finally, I packed up my dripping-wet gear and headed to the parking lot at about 1:30 AM but made the mistake of looking up before getting into my car. There was an amazing patch of stars surrounded by the black outlines of trees — the path of the Milky Way directly overhead. I grabbed a few shots with a lens that had somehow managed to defog, and reluctantly left for home. The experience, overall, was worth being tired and sore today.

Photo: Looking up from the parking lot: "My god, it's full of stars" is a phrase associated with a scene from the 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey" spoken by David Bowman as he entered an alien-created "stargate." Photo by James Guilford.

Looking up from the parking lot: “My god, it’s full of stars” is a phrase associated with a scene from the 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey” spoken by David Bowman as he entered an alien-created “stargate.”

Waiting for meteors

Posted by Photonstopper on August 12, 2018
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Catching up on postings, I’ll start with last night’s efforts watching for meteors. While waiting for the sky to darken, I enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the lake at Letha House Park West, a Medina County (Ohio) Park System property. (I have after-hours access.) I’m glad I arrived early even if the wait for darkness was all the longer.

Photo: A Showy Sunset made Waiting for Meteors a Pleasure. Photo by James Guilford.

A Showy Sunset made Waiting for Meteors a Pleasure.

The annual Perseids meteor shower was highly-anticipated, not only because it reliably produces many bright “shooting stars,” but because Moon was in its new phase August 11 — no natural light pollution! Unfortunately, with thin haze and clouds overhead, human-produced light pollution from Medina, Ohio was quite bad! Still, we did see several “fireball” meteors — flashes brighter than the planet Venus — and I did capture a few. Best of the night showed two, yes two (2) meteors glowing at the same time! This is a stack of two sequential 15-second frames and both meteors appear in both frames at different stages of their burn! Close-up viewing of the streaks shows faint lines leading to the flares of these little fireballs heading generally left to right (east to west) in this crop from a 15mm fisheye lens field of view.

Photo: Pretty Pair of Perseids: Two Perseid meteors glow high in the southern sky over constellation Sagitarius. Photo by James Guilford.

Pretty Pair of Perseids: Two Perseid meteors glow high in the southern sky over constellation Sagittarius.

Now, I’m assuming these are meteors; there’s something odd about the timing and appearance of the streaks and flares. There would have been a one- or two-second delay between the end of the first exposure and the beginning of the second, which seems long for a meteor. No Iridium satellite flares were predicted via Heavens Above. Time was 10:30, Saturday, August 11.

Meteors became a bit more frequent around midnight, which is typical, but the atmosphere was playing havoc with our observing. We left the observing site at about 1:00 AM with clouds building ever-thicker and lenses fogging up. It was a fun night watching for meteors… even if, or maybe because, they were a rare sight!