365: Sky 41 - tropical

Cancun, April 2007

Current Fads
Listening. Genius iMix based on Beau Soir; chirping birds
Watching. Four Weddings and A Funeral (1993)
Activity. following the Royal Wedding
Gadget. hand trowel
News Source. the news feeds in Safari
Reading. Reflections - Ajahn Chah; A Medieval Storybook - Morris Bishop; The Wisdom of No Escape - Pema Chodron
Writing. just finished a screenplay draft

365: Sky 40 - dark clouds

I didn't plan on naming these things, yet some how I got started and can't stop. I don't believe in naming everything until it's a full-fledged work. Oh, well.

365: Sky 39 - no storms

Windy with no tornadoes or hurricanes over my house yesterday.

365: Sky 38 - sky house

Sunset from my sky house in Second Life (2009)

Location: Sandana sky, Second LIfe

When I first moved to Second Life, I rented in a multi-use community. There were glaring hot orange flashing signs as well as sedate homes and private condos. Luckily, I found a very inexpensive sky pavilion which I placed above it all so I could watch the sunset unimpeded. The skies are lovely. Especially moonset which I can't remember having ever seen in first life. The sky went through so many colors and the light shimmered through the spectrum. I only watched that once. Moonset is more difficult to see properly. I'll keep trying, though.

365: Sky 37 - oh the desert

365: Sky 36 - night ocean

I like the foam. Not exactly a wave. Might be foamy rocks, though.

365: Sky 35 - fish turtle

At first it looked like a turtle but here it looks like a fish although it could also be a pair of bunny ears. I am contemplating taking my camera around with me, so that I don't have to rely on my phone. The photo quality would be much improved. I get, oh, I don't know, self-conscious or intimidated or something carrying around a camera without a specific goal in mind. Whenever I carry the camera I notice how often I don't use it. And I never see anything worth photographing. Something to think about.

365: Sky 34 - abstract night

365: Sky 33 - green sky

Something yukky and appropriate for Good Friday.

365: Sky 32 - night whirlpool

The settings say night. This looks like day.

365: Sky 31 - facing south

The sunset over the river was lovely this evening. I wasn't able to stop and photograph it. This is from my back yard, facing south. 

365: Sky 30 - with whirlpool

Another Bryce sky, nicely brooding and perhaps a little foreboding. In the sixties, I began noticing the white skies around the D.C. area in Northern Virginia. In the 80's we started getting them in Richmond VA. White skies can't be good. The sky is trending toward white today. Possibly a sign of a hot, wretched summer ahead. I hope not.

I'm interested in how this sky project is making me notice the weather and environment as reflected by the health of the sky. I've never been an activist, although it's never too late to start.

365: Sky 29 - after the hurricane

The morning after Isabel (2003)

365: Sky 28 - all day blue

It's been like this all day.

365: Sky 27 - Hochtaunus

Hoch im Taunus mit Silvia (2002)

I took this photo while visiting relatives in Germany in October of 2002. That's my cousin Silvia. A bunch of us went up to the Cafe Sachs which is a pilgrimage made every time my mother goes over for a visit. It's a funny little story which must wait for another time. This is not a typical German sky although it does happen enough to be ordinary. It was a lovely day. We had a lovely drive up and spent a lovely couple of hours enjoying the coffee and pastries of the Cafe Sachs.

The Cafe Sachs (October 2002)

Very charming inside and out with great views. The cakes and coffee are excellent. How could they not be?

365: Sky 26 - sun setting

Sun setting over the culvert beside the apartments. The culvert was once like a mini-forest but has now been cleared. It looks nearly pristine. I think they shoved all the growth into the woods (behind me in this view) because there are piles of mangled growth laying back there. I know that all you can see of the culvert is a dim highlight. Just wanted to let you know I never really look in there any more as this is not the first time I've walked beside the culvert since they cleared it. And if you understand that nonsense you're smarter than I am.

365: Sky 25 - sunrising

The sun rises on yesterday's sky. The stars are still odd circles, though, and the sand dune is still blue. Bryce makes pretty skies, even if not always realistic ones.

365: Sky 24 - still blue

Yesterday's sky with the sun just above the horizon. Still with the blue, though. Annoying. But not annoying enough to spend time figuring out how to remove it.

365: Sky 23 - blue night

Again with the blue sand. However, it's night I expect the sand to be dark, even if not exactly blue.

365: Sky 22 - hot spring day

Over my back yard.

365: Sky 21 - Expansive

Expansive (bowl of water) - Jan. 2002

Today's sky comes from the past. The atmosphere is very hazy and I don't remember how long it took to render. I wrote a sci-fi poem about this scene while at RavenCon a couple of years ago. It's not a particularly good poem.

This piece started with the sky. To set it off I added the bright orange coppery spheres. And then the mountains. It was so dry I had to add the bowl of water. Bryce does water very nicely.

365: Sky 20 - it's all blue

I intended to make a tropical sky and this image is basically tropical – with a lot of haze, fog and some weird lighting thrown in. I have no idea how Bryce makes objects in a scene show up in colors other than what they really are. I can't create that colored effect found in some of the preset skies. I don't like the green tree and the beige sandy mountain showing up in violent shade of blue. Will try again tomorrow. And, this sky took three hours to render!

365: Sky 19 - with stars

Yesterday's sky with slightly fewer clouds and added stars. The default Bryce stars are circles. So I plonked brushed stars on the circles with Photoshop.

365: Sky 18 - another night

Current Fads
Listening. Free Man in Paris, Joni Mitchell and It'll Be Alright (unpublished iTune playlist); lots of tweeting birds
Watching. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Activity. working
Gadget. iPhone 3 GS
News Source. the news feeds in Safari
Reading. American Gods - Neil Gaiman; The Passionate, Accurate Story - Carol Bly; A Medieval Storybook - Morris Bishop
Writing. a screenplay (which might become a graphic novel)

365: Sky 17 - stormy

From yesterday afternoon. I've decided the sky doesn't necessary need to be created the day it's posted. The real job is to post a sky a day. Real skies are much more beautiful than fake skies. 

365: Sky 16 - unnatural

Another sky from the randomizer with modified haze and a polluted ocean of water. Could that be methane? Perhaps it is a sky from another planet.

365: Sky 15 - the ten-minute sky

Here is the elusive 10-minute-to-render sky. I love the colors! I generated it using the Bryce random sky generator and then modified it a bit, reducing the haze and fog. I added a ground plane of water. Water, apparently, renders faster than land.

365: Sky 14 - not thunderheads

jeweled

Noticed that thunderclouds can't be made (in my version of Bryce - 5.5). Tried and ended up with this jewel toned sky with ethereal ground plane. Has a nice shimmery look, though. 

In my quest to find skies that are lovely and quickly rendered, this one took about an hour. Not incredibly time consuming. Still, it did take longer than ten minutes and I'm a little impatient.

365: Sky 13 - tropical dream

365: Sky 12-2: spring sunset

Looking west on the Robert E Lee Bridge

I never see the poles or wires or other junk. I just see the sky.

365: Sky 12 - misty

sky with default ground plane