Tag Archives: storms

The Pot of Gold Rainbow Over the Las Vegas Strip?

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Rainbow Over the Las Vegas Strip from McCarran Airport

Rainbow Over the Las Vegas Strip from McCarran Airport

I thought I would post something a little different this Thursday for my Throwback Thursday post. Some of you may or may not know that we lived in Las Vegas for a while, and being close to a very accessible airport, photography wise, I shot more images from the Las Vegas McCarran Airport (KLAS) than probably any other single location. Since that was the case, I have several that were my favorites at LAS, but I was also able to get way beyond the normal observation area shot through the fence, which is the standard tourist shot. I was even able to shoot Air Force One when President Bush flew out, and then some just really freak things like this shot, a rainbow opening up right over the Las Vegas Strip. Rain is rare out there, and being in the location where I was in this shot was rare, and the aircraft taking off toward me from this runway was rare as well. They almost always take off and land on the parallels from east to west, so taking off to the south was unique for this day.

This should have been on the cover of any number of Las Vegas Tourism industry publications, but when I took this shot 10 years ago I couldn’t get anyone to even respond to an email, let alone look at a handful of images. Well it’s a different time and a different day. I have a Stories Section where I have some random stories to be told about random images, this is one of those stories. I was told the other day the old adage, a picture is worth a thousand words, well, I’ve never tried that, so next time, I’m going to do a picture, and a thousand words to go along with it. Today it’s only 350.

Update on Photo Project 365 From June 2012 :: P365.me

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Project 365 June 2012 Update

Project 365 [Day 199] Waiting for the Rain in the Parking Lot

It’s the first part of July and I finally got around to updating my June Project 365 Photos (read about my Project 365 here). I am up to day 215, as of June 30th, which makes me 58.74% of the way through this project. Sometimes it feels like I’m taking the same photo every day, but I keep trying to find a unique image each day, and so far I have 215 unique images over my my Flickr gallery. My favorite shot (that was not published previously on my site) for the month of June is above, probably because it is a little more abstract. This huge storm came up while I was sitting in the Publix parking lot waiting for Deb to come out, and this shot was the result.

I still have mixed feelings about this project. It’s a pain in the neck, it takes time, it’s every single day with no break, and it’s a unbelievably accurate look at your life one photo at a time. Just like all photography, when I look at each individual image, I can remember great details about each day, just because I took one single photo. The mind is an amazing thing, and images create a very strong reminder in the brain, causing us to remember details we would otherwise have long forgotten. I know there is some psychological reasoning behind this, but once that image is taken, it takes certain details and moves them from our short-term RAM memory and places them in the long-term storage. That’s what I love about photography.

Just 151 more days and photos to take, and I can’t wait for November 29th when I can say it is finished. You can see a few previous blog posts on Project 365 here. To see the full gallery over on Flickr just go to http://P365.me.

Sun Behind Storm Clouds

The Sunset is Just an Amazing Display of God in Creation

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We have had a stormy few days leading up to Christmas this year, with some really weird warmer weather. I took this photo above yesterday with my cell phone as I was walking across the pasture to my house. I had forgotten something at my house that I needed to fix my mom’s computer, and literally as I was walking, I decided to take a few shots of sun through the clouds with my phone. I’m always amazed at the beauty that is before us all the time, but because we see it every day, day in and day out, we forget it’s there, or fail to recognize it’s beauty.

Of course this is no accident, and we are told over and over again that this display, the very display we can now capture on a phone, shows the existence of God to us all, and therefore, we are without excuse to say we have never known God to be real, to have shown his beauty to all of us. Today this photo also serves as my Project 365 [Day 23] image (see the rest of P365.me :2012 here).

This is what David says in Psalm 19.1-6 where he said

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork… in them, he has set a tent for the sun… its rising is from the end of the heavens… and there is nothing hidden from its heat

and again, what Paul says in Romans 1.20

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

I have seen photos taken by Hubble that truly astound and boggle the mind, but sometimes we only have to go as far as to look around us, because God has displayed himself everywhere in His creation, from the Orion Nebula to our own backyard.

Cloud Explosions in the Sky at 40,000 Feet

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Today, a quick photo of the day post with one of my favorite inflight photos from my recent flight between Amsterdam and Uganda. This is a huge thunderstorm over the Mediterranean Sea that towered at least to the 40,000 feet we were flying at this day, and you can see went quick a bit above where we were flying. Somehow these two massive thunderstorms looked like (to me) two nuclear bombs exploding, and of course we were flying into these storms.

I have another post almost ready to go with photos about water, and the well, and kids, and all that stuff so look for that next time.

Patience Results in a Magnificent Sunset :: Saturday Summary

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Above is how my day ended yesterday, but what was in between was almost a blur. I know today is Sunday, but I’m doing my photo Saturday Summary today. Sunday’s in the summer are usually a little more laid back but they haven’t been so far, and yesterday was pretty incredible, and exhausting. Within two services we had more baptisms than I could count (pics here), a Uganda team trip meeting (for the October trip), four video sessions shot for our small groups (see April’s blog), a quick trip to Starbucks in severe lightning storms (see photo below), then another Uganda trip meeting (July trip), which was semi-rained out but still took place.

Uganda 2011 July trip update: So our Uganda team is leaving at the end of July (details here), just four short weeks away now, and is commissioned to (among other things) put together a soccer camp of sorts for the kids. The team is all guys this time, and for the most part, skilled in coaching soccer, except for me who will be behind the camera. We follow a full mission team that leaves the U.S. mid-July and we arrive in Uganda about the same time they leave to come back home. We have been meeting together as a team to get to know each other and plan the trip, and yesterday was one of those this-is-what-we-planned but this-is-what-happened-meeting. We were going to meet at a local soccer field and everyone was going to get some practice in, including me with my camera. As lightning bolts rained down we all ran for cover, stood around for an hour getting to know each other better, got out on the field, kicked the ball approximately two times each and scattered when the next lightning bolt came down in close proximity. I did manage to get one shot of Jason kicking a soccer ball to prove that we both got our practice in, sorta.

Driving home about 8pm last night I was so tired I couldn’t really think straight at that point and then all of a sudden the sun burst out of the storm bank just above the horizon line and I pulled over to the side of the road where I could see the horizon (not an easy thing to do in Alabama where you can’t see more than 20 feet because of all the trees) and got the shot at the top. The beauty that only God can produce in the sky with a mix of clouds, rain, lightning, and sun was a truly magnificent end to the day (it didn’t matter that the storm had fried my gate and I couldn’t get into my own property when I got home… but that’s another story).

As some of you may know I am still trying to raise money for these two mission trips, and every single donation helps no matter the amount, even $10 will go a long way when combined with everyone else’s donation. If you would like to help visit the info page or make an online donation here. Thanks!

Rolling Summer Thunderstorms and Dramatic Clouds in the South

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It seems like these storms have been way to far and few between the past few years, but at least we are getting a small amount of rain. This thunderhead rolled by yesterday afternoon about 2pm and today it’s the photo of the day. Down here you see these nice little points developing in the clouds and you start to take notice. This one never picked up any rotation to it, but it made for some nice dramatic cloud shots. This image was taken just a few miles from my house when I was on my way to work, I literally stopped on the side of the road and rolled down the window to get the shot. My favorite part is how this tiny little truck way off in the lower right corner looks like it’s trying to outrun the storm like it’s the movie Twisters or something. It would be nice if we could get these every afternoon for the rest of the year.

Alabama Tornado Storm Damage from Dadeville Today :: Photos

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Almost impossible to describe what we saw today as we took a small group of people from Cornerstone into Dadeville, AL. We didn’t know what to expect when we got there and most of the area was closed off, but the houses the police directed us to were way beyond needing trees cleaned up or anything like that, they just needed help finding their personal belongings so they could leave the area. It wasn’t partial damage where we were, it was complete destruction. The homeowners were more than gracious for having just lost everything and then having total strangers walking around their property. I tried to document what we saw as best I could while respecting the owners of the property. I spoke with each owner before taking any shots of course and they were more than accommodating to our group. To see the entire gallery from today visit Alabama Storm Damage April 2011.

Crazy Weather with 70 Degrees and Snow in Auburn

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Tree in Back Yard

Pork Loin Roast

This has has been a crazy Saturday weather wise.  Started off with tornado and thunderstorm warnings all over the place and turned into a nice sunny and rather warm day at 70*, but tonight, there is snow expected.  I think we are well below the actual snow line if there is one but non-the-less, we are expecting a light dusting tonight.

We did have a nice evening with some friends from church tonight.  We shared a meal (see Pork Loin on the grill below) and enjoyed just a few minutes of not having to be somewhere or do something other than just hang out for a while.  It was nice, just wish it lasted a little longer. The buzz around the Internet right now seems to be how can we get out of going to church tomorrow because it is going to snow type thing, but apparently the doors of the church will be open come rain or snow, imagine that.  I am sure people up north who live in snow all winter are laughing. I guess my thought on that would be if you need an excuse not to come to church for a Sunday then just stay home and relax and watch the snow.

Humidity, Storms, and Lightning in Alabama are Back

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Lightning in an Alabama Summer Storm

We have been in a drought for about two years now. Just over the last few weeks we have finally started to get back those 90% humidity days with afternoon thunderstorms. Finally, the grass, trees, plants, and everything else that needs water is getting a small break.

Taken on Monday night as a storm blew through. It was so nice to see a few storms roll through here in the last few weeks. It has been so long since we have had rain here in the lower south, it is a very welcome sight. It also gives me a great chance to practice my lightning photography (see photographing lightning post).