Cloudcatcher & Stargazer

Cloudcatcher. Stargazer. Occasional summoner of Weather. Dreamer – struggling mightily with reality.

Clouds are nearby friends in the sky, the stars are faraway beacons of hope. Surreal and otherworldly, ingredients of dreams but real. This may get a mite esoteric and peculiar, bear with me on this mind trip. During the day there is nothing quite like clouds that will catch my eye. At night it is the stars calling me leaving me gazing deep into the universe, back in time and lost in dreams. Cloudcatcher. Stargazer. Dreamer.

Clouds are a key subject in my photos, I could shoot nothing but clouds all day. I am convinced they are alive. Clouds catch my eye and I run around looking for a foreground subject. Occasionally I feel I have magic powers and can summon the clouds and the weather. Certainly, in USA I had so much good luck with the light and the clouds it surely cannot be a coincidence. Example, I really only shot at Grand Canyon for 3 hours but managed to first summon a huge snow storm for dramatic storm shots, then move the storm out of the way just in time for a sunset. I summoned a sand storm in White Sands. Last year I was able to summon rain in the Namibia desert, extremely rare. All in a days work. Here is an example of clouds I summoned in Arches, Utah, a great dramatic snow storm:

Clouds - Arches - blog

The stars always bring me hope. Hope of space travel and life on other planets. Hope for the future of our self destructive race. A pitch black night allows me to leave the Earth and fly away to other galaxies. The Saint Agustin plains and Very Large Array in New Mexico offered the perfect launch platform and a billion stars to capture:

Stars - VLA - blog

Finally, my home city of Copenhagen in Denmark has more bland and less dramatic weather but is occasionally still home to fantastic clouds. I present an oldie from 2006, a sunset in late autumn. I remember this day well, stressed out from my then fulltime IT job I sat fatigued and zombie-like at Lake Peblinge observing a forthcoming sunset seemingly holding few promises. It was bone-rattling cold, and I felt like going home. Slowly this ‘spine’ of clouds formed and lit up like in a dream. The sky was a burning lava magenta for about 20 minutes and I have never again witnessed anything like it here. On this day, Copenhagen was a tropical town and I promise this is what it looked like:

Fiery sunset Lake Peblinge -blog

Cloudcatcher. Stargazer. Dreamer. Reality?

PS. Two awesome cloud videos for you fellow cloudcatchers: Joe Taylor and Edvard Brun.

15 Comments on “Cloudcatcher & Stargazer”

  1. Very deep there Mr. Bo Jangles…(note my new name for you :)!

    All great images mate…I especially love the top one…awesome clouds and yes I am also very much a cloud and star worshiper!

    1. Yes I noticed the new name Mark. Google reveals a few possible explanations, I am sure I will get the real one in good time 🙂 Glad you like the images, watch the videos as well mate, you will love them. How long before you own a spaceship btw and can I come? 😀

  2. Already got one of those mate…its called the True North and it spirits me away to many cool places!

  3. All in a day's work indeed 😀

    I like your reality. Not the one you struggle with, but the one you're in. The Red pill isn't a road to a post apocalyptic desert after all.

      1. Come now. Didn't your mates down in Area 51 throw you a welcome back party?

        See there's somewhere you fit in 😉

        You seem to embody the idea that not fitting in is the greatest freedom of all. See what I mean by liking all your realities? They work for me 😀

        1. Yeah, Death Valley was very much home, went bowling at playa racetracks with my mates 🙂

          'not fitting in is the greatest freedom of all'…helluva insight there mate 😀 Well, my 'not fitting in' quest around the world continues when the spaceship is refueled, stay tuned!

  4. hhhmmmm… I was expecting a new post after your comment Flembot! And i am certain I commented on this post a few days ago haha.

    Maybe I got half way through it and then got distracted by something shiny 😀
    either way I think my comment got lost?

    great post, entertaining as always haha. I can imagine you with your cheeky grin as you "summoned" up all of this unique weather for the regions you visited.

    the wide angle feel to the first image is cool. I love how clouds seem to streak across the sky in an image taken on the wider side of things. it brings them to life.

    still a pretty awesome solar system shot. amazing amount of stars you got there!

    and what better way to wind down after a crappy day then going and seeing a sunset like that.
    they usually happen when I don't take my camera to work 😛
    occasionally I luck out and have time, a nice sunset and importantly my camera in my car 🙂
    the events of the day are very quickly forgotten then!

    1. Thanks for your comment Stephen, I worried about you mate, where were ya 🙂 Always like and look forward to your comments. Murphy's law is sure to dictate that the best light comes when we have left the camera behind. One day in Canyonlands in Utah I had remembered my camera but actually forgotten my shoes at the motel. Cue the first ep of Barefooted Photographer 🙂

  5. Great sky in that Courthouse towers image, at least I think that's what they were called.
    I used to be a huge sky nazi, would not bother getting the camera out unless there were some incredible clouds about. These days I am a little more lenient.

    1. Thanks Luke, I do try and shoot even on clear days as well, sometimes a totally clear sky can work well in particularly a desert environment – emphasise the huge wide open space.

  6. Arches was my favorite spot in the USA. Well that and about 30 other places!
    I think this shot is great but would love to see the blue sky cloned out, use content aware fill, that should fix it pretty quick.
    I'm with you mate, would love to be taken away by aliens to a fantastic new world full of blonde Scandinavian girls who just love a good Aussie accent.

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