New Moon & Venus at Sunset

New Moon & Venus at Sunset
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

While this hasn't been an overly exceptional summer it has had its moments.

The normal heat of summer just hasn't been around as much as past years. I can only recall about one week of temperatures over 30 degrees so far. The rest of the time we've been sitting in the mid to low 20's.

Of course, that isn't horrible by any means, especially when we haven't had a whole lot of rain. I like not having to cut the lawn twice a week like I do in the Spring.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the cool summer weather is only a precursor to what winter will have in store for us. I fear it will be long and frigid and that is never a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

The cool weather hasn't hampered my ability to grab some interesting images with my camera when I had the time to pick it up and shoot.

Recently I've been trying my luck at some night photography with limited success. I lack the proper lens to get the job done properly but I make it work as best I can. I just can't justify spending $1000 on a new lens right now.

This weekend I actually got a couple of shots of meteors entering earth's atmosphere as part of the annual Perseid Meteor shower. Nothing too spectacular but something was better than nothing. For some reason the meteors just don't seem as bright or last as long as they did when I was a kid. I can recall sitting under the stars at camp watching these long bright lights shooting across the sky. Some would last long enough to be pointed out and allow all to catch a glimpse of it before it vanished. Now if you blink you miss it.

I also enjoy a good sunset as evidenced by my photo above. I always think a good sunset photo, or any photo for that matter, has to have something interesting in it or a nice composition.

For example I like the trees in the foreground of this particular image but it also has more happening in it than a pretty orange sky. If you look to the top left you can see the new moon and in the right corner you can see the bright light of the planet Venus shining.

I never turn down an opportunity to photograph a sunset if I think it will be more than just a pretty colour.

Perseid Meteors Don't Cooperate

After a couple of hours of sitting next to a campfire and looking skyward I came away with a sore neck and about 50 sightings of the Perseid Meteor Shower last night.

In the past as a kid I can remember my dad and I sitting out until three in the morning watching for what was supposed to be an impressive display. It never materialized and we might have seen a handful the entire time.

Last night with little effort on our parts we had a great view of a much more impressive show. Now, it didn't produce the predicted 100 meteors per hour that we heard about on the news but we did see approximately 15 to 20 per hour including some very impressive fireballs.

The only downside on this clear and perfect night for viewing was the fact I was unable to capture a single one using my camera. It wasn't for lack of trying on my part but they just didn't fall where my lens was pointing, or if they did, they were too faint to pick up and not the more impressive meteors.

It wasn't a total loss with the camera as I did manage to get a few interesting photos of the night sky and some star trails as you can see in the photo below.


© 2010 Mark Kennedy