sun pillar

Sun pillars are caused by high-level ice crystals reflecting light from a bright source like the sun or city lights.  On the morning of a winter storm that was coming in, I caught this at sunrise.  That evening about 2.5 inches of snow fell for one slick morning.

This is the Beachner Grain elevator at 519 E. 20th St in Wichita, Kansas and very visible from I-135 near the 21at street exit.  This World Record sized mural is the work of the Horizontes project in Wichita.  They are a local community engagement group that made the over 50,000 foot mural.

For more information on the project: https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article222365075.html

For more information on Horizontes: http://www.horizontes-project.com/about/

Rumination of Thunder Now With Drone Photography and Videography

Coronado Heights near Lindsborg, Kansas has always been a place for incredible views of the nearby landscape.  Recently the park was closed due to heavy rains and a large mudslide that covered the main road up.  They cleared the mudslide and we trecked up there Saturday.  Monday the area received 9 inches of snow but warm temps had mostly melted it.

From the site http://www.naturalkansas.org/:

Coronado Heights is a prominent, isolated hill overlooking the Smoky Hill river valley.  It is the last of a row of erosional hills extending to the north which are capped by the sandstone of the Dakota Formation.  It is 300 feet above the surrounding valley floor, offering sweeping vistas of the surrounding countryside.  The eroded face of Coronado Heights reveals a panorama of geological history as well, covering 230 million years of time.  At its base are gray and red shales that made up the floor of an ancient salt water sea. At the top is the Dakota Sandstone, a mixture of marine, fresh water and subtropical fossil material.

The castle at Coronado Heights was constructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1932. They also built the stone picnic sites, restroom, and stone front gate at the park.

Rumination of Thunder at Union Station KC as part of the Fringe Festival

Rumination of Thunder is on display at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri until July 28th.  The 15th annual Fringe Festival KC-- where adventurous audiences meet adventurous artists. This 14-day explosion of unjuried, uncensored performing and visual arts features performers and creators from all over- local, national and international. Fringe Festival KC is the biggest celebration of arts and culture in the Kansas City metropolitan region.

See the schedule of events here: https://kcfringe.org/

I will be in attendance on Saturdays and Sunday but my work is displayed during the week.

06/22/2019 Lightning Study

There have been several storms as of late.  Last night, during our second series of storms, I took my daughter out to try to get some shots with the GoPro.  There are always shots that are missed.  The big one was to our west.  A large, positively-charged cloud to ground struck less than two miles from our location in the middle of our neighborhood.  Several firetrucks went out to the area looking for fires but as far as I know, were unable to find one.

06152019 Thunderstorms

We had a series of small intense thunderstorms come into Wichita and produce quite the lightning show.  With several close cloud to ground (CG) lightning strikes, I decided to stay in the car and try using my Gear 360 while trying to take photos from the car.  I had some technical issues with the Gear 360 but came out with an interesting time-lapse.

Panoramic View

360 video

05282019 Heavy Rain

Lots of rain.  In fact, so much rain that a lot of the interesting things I wanted to take photos of, I couldn't because of intense rain.  

Large hail shaft north of Valley Center.

Sunset in Kechi.