The Wilds are Wilder than Ever…

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Photo #568: National BisonLocation Taken: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Time Taken: October 2012

You know, I wonder how the animals in all the National Parks in the US are doing right now.

The parks have been closed to the public for working on two weeks now, thanks to the government shutdown. Which means no tourists coming through, no campers hanging out, no one but the caretaker park rangers. The animals have no fear of becoming roadkill, or having people disturb their naps, or many of the other ways we affect their lives.

I wonder if they miss us.

  

The Wild Weeds of Self-Identification

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Photo #567: Wild WeedsLocation Taken: Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington
Time Taken: June 2008

You know one of the ways you can distinguish a “Real Photographer” from someone just taking a photo. The regular person will be standing next to the horde of other people taking the picture of the fantastic mountain or statue or whatnot, while the “Real” photographer will be off in the corner taking a photo of a weed. Or a ceiling. Or whatever caught her fancy.

Not that I really subscribe to the “Real” vs. “Fake” photographer thing. In a very real sense, if you take photographs, you’re a photographer. Any division, even the one I just stated, will place some people in the wrong category.

For instance, I’d fail the “Real Photographers have fifteen lenses and can tell you exactly what each is used for” category. I’ve got one camera with one lens, it’s more than five years old, and it’s on the cheaper end. And yet, given that you read this blog, I doubt you’d dare say I’m not a photographer.

I, on the other hand, might say just that. In the list of qualities that make me who I am, Artist is on the list but Photographer is not. To me, photography is just another aspect of how my Artist quality comes out. Which is why I’m far more concerned about what I’m photographing than on the technical side of making the photo come out the absolute best it can, I guess. Probably part of why I haven’t gotten around to setting up an online store, either, since on a deep level I just see my photos as a hobby.

But still, someone who’s taking a picture of some strange object because the lighting caught their eye or whatnot is far more likely to think of themselves as a photographer than someone who’s taking a photo of their friend standing next to a giant Prairie Chicken or whatnot.

So I guess this photo was part of my photographer side, wandering to the side of the road to take a photo of the wildflowers rather than the fantastic view we pulled over to look at for a bit…

  

The Simple Beauty of the Human Brain. Emphasis on Simple.

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Photo #566: Simple BeautyLocation Taken: Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland
Time Taken: July 2012

Darn you, Pavlov!

I’m listening to some very lovely traditional Chinese music and it’s making me crave egg drop soup.

That’s the type of conditioning that Pavlov studied all right. I almost exclusively hear traditional Chinese music played at Chinese restaurants. And I almost always get egg drop soup at said restaurants. I guess my brain has set up a correlation between the two and is saying “I hear the music, now where’s my soup?”

Ah, the joys of mental quirks.

(And the flower’s because it was the first photo I found that looked even vaguely “Chinese”, despite it being from the opposite side of the planet. If I’d have ever visited China, one of those photos would be here instead. But I haven’t.)

  

Lenticular: Shaped Like a Lens, or a Flying Saucer!

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0565LenticularUFOLocation Taken: Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland
Time Taken: July 2012

It’s a UFO!!! RUN!!!

No, wait, that’s a lenticular cloud. Sorry, false alarm.

…I guess that would make it an IFC then. An Identified Floating Cloud.

This particular IFC isn’t that UFO-like anyway. There’s far more fantastic ones you can find floating over sharp mountain peaks. This particular mountain has a flat top, which doesn’t work so well for forming clear edges on its lenticulars.

So, what do mountains and flying saucer shaped clouds have to do with each other, you ask? Well, as air currents pass over mountain ranges, there’s all this rock in the way, so the air gets shoved upwards, into thinner and colder sections of the atmosphere. This changes the delicate balance that is air humidity and well, the water kinda falls out of the sky. This is what causes the rain shadow effect as well, forming lots of rain clouds on the windward side of the mountains.

But sometimes there’s not enough moisture in the air to form clouds all over. At those times, only the spots where the air gets shoved upwards the most have the moisture squeezed out of them, forming these odd-shaped clouds. They’re centered right above mountain peaks, and are a type of standing cloud. In other words, the cloud doesn’t move with the wind. What’s really happening is that it’s a constantly forming and dissolving cloud. The air coming in forms new cloudy bits when it gets shoved high enough, and the cloudy bits fade away when the air starts heading down the other side of the mountain.

Which, since it’s too far away to see that constant internal motion, still manages to look like a cloud that’s ignoring the weather going on around it, aka acting “unnaturally”. In other words, the perfect disguise for a saucer-shaped UFO that’s doing longer-term observation of the area! It’s so clear now! The meteorologists are trying to convince us the UFOs aren’t UFOs!!

Or not.

  

Can I Move to Here? Like, Right this Second?

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Photo #564: Good MountainsLocation Taken: Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington
Time Taken: June 2010

It’s been a long, hot, and busy weekend, and all I feel like doing is staring at some mountains.

Seriously, weather, 90 degrees in October? Why?!!?

And I’m currently selling Italian Ices at the local Renaissance Festival, which always sell really well on hot days. And on crowded days. And this weekend was both very hot and very crowded. I sold about 1000 ices this weekend, which is just absurd on so many levels.  That’s an average of 55 ices each hour, nearly one a minute!  And that’s an average!  My peak selling rate was much higher than that!  Absurd, I tell you, absurd!

Calm down, Sharayah, think of the mountains…

Calm mountains, cold mountains, good mountains…

No people, no heat, no expectations…

Mountains are wonderful…