Friday 26 June 2009

RIP Michael Jackson

It's all over the news this morning and you know if you can't beat them...

He has an unbelievable back catalog of music and produced arguably the best pop song and album in Billie Jean and Thriller. It's something that can never be taken from him despite his many recent personal and extremely public trials and tribulations.

Whilst I think the guy is weird I am a fan of the music and it is a great loss for the pop world that he is now gone.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson 1958-2009

Thursday 25 June 2009

Eruption from space

The Earth never fails to amaze me and it's always a place of beauty and wonder. But every now and then you see something from a different and special perspective.

This photo was taken from the International Space Station of the Sarychev Peak volcano in Japan/Russia.

For the photo geeks among us this was taken with a Nikon D2XS with a 400mm Lens.

Source: The Register

The volcano, which lies in the Kuril Island chain northeast of Japan, blew its top on 12 June, an event captured during a "fortuitous orbit" of the ISS. NASA explains that the picture is of particular interest to vulcanologists because it show "several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption".

These include the main plume, which "appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam" and a clear circle in the "cloud deck" - either caused by "the shockwave from the eruption or from sinking air around the eruption plume"


Monday 22 June 2009

Synesthesia by Terri Timely

An exceedingly clever short film. Source: http://www.territimely.com/_/v/2-short-films

Friday 19 June 2009

Birdies!!!

Whilst sitting at home feeling sorry for myself due to a previous nights attempt at self embalming I got a rather random phone call from my Fiancé.

Kim was heading up toward Primrose Hill and whilst going past Regents Park in Holborn she noticed that there were a large number of birds of prey on perches. I have an avid love of all things alive so my hangover rapidly forgotten I tore around the house and gathered up my photography gear.

What did I discover? These guys! Stunning birds but it's not the same as seeing them in the wild. Still a very special experience.

Eagle

Pygmy Owl
Eagle Owl
Eagle Owl

What I've been up too.

I've had a whole stack of stuff to do of late not the least of which was a trip to Italy to check out the venue for mine and Kims up and coming wedding.


The area is called Maratea and it is about 2-3 hours drive south of Naples. Whilst being absolutely beautiful it is a bit of a mission to get to as the Italians seem to have a grand idea about fixing the entire motorway system all at once and subsequently don't fix any of it. It stays in a constant state of semi-repair.


What should've been a simple drive to and from Maratea ended up being a case of sitting in traffic for several hours each way. Still it didn't detract from the experience of being there.


One of the main 'icons' of Maratea is Il Cristo Redentore - These are all taken on a mountain overlooking the coast under a statue called Cristo Redentore - this is the second largest 'Christ the Redeemer' statue after the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This one stands at 21.23 metres with a 19 metre arm span. The Rio one is 34.20 metres and 40.44 Metres on it's pedestal.


Kim standing in front of Cristo Redentore (Christ the Redeemer)

It's situated on the top of a very high part of the coast and as such it has a brilliant view. Getting there was a whole other experience as for some very strange reason the road to get there wasn't on our Garmin Satnav. Still we eventually found our way there and it really was worth it.

Looking South down the West coast of Italy
Looking up at Cristo Redentore
Looking North up the West coast of Italy
Kim checking out the view
Me in front of Cristo Redentore - taken by Kim.