Summer Solstice Stunning Sunset

Those of us in Columbus were treated to a magnificent sunset last evening as a line of thunderstorms slid to our west, staying clear of the city.  The sun that filtered in behind this line just created one of the most sublime sunsets I have ever witnessed.  It was spectacular!

Happy Summer.

-Tom

Sunset

Lately I've been showing photographs of the sunrise, but this evening, I photographed the evening sunset.   I was struck by the contrast between the natural lines created by the gnarled bur oak limbs and the crossing angles created by the contrails just above the horizon.

-Tom

Back from the Land of Ice & Snow: Sky Watch Friday

Crap, it's 2010. When did that happen?

We must have missed that on our marathon holiday trip that started on Christmas Eve. Drive to Akron, stay with parents & brother, Fly to Maine through Detroit, stay with parents, siblings, & grandparents (12 people in all!) fly back to Akron via Detroit, stay with parents and brother. Drive back home. Finally, yes, I am back home, and it feels wonderful. Happy New Year.

Tom

And since I just realized it's Friday, and It's been months since I participated in the ultimate nature blog meme for everyone, "Sky Watch", and this picture works for that, happy Sky Watch!

Good Night and Goodbye from Little Pond

 

Our stay has come to an end. Tomorrow we will head back to Columbus and leave Little Pond for Megan's Parents to enjoy. The next time we'll be back, ice will cover this pond and the geese that descended upon the water today will also be long gone. We've had a great vacation here in western Maine- we scaled two mountains, did the obligatory trip to L.L. Bean, and even ate a genuine New England boiled dinner held in the basement of the church where Megan and I were married. And Weston loved every bit of our stay. Can we ask for anything more?

When we visit here for a full week, we get a taste of what life in rural Maine is like- clean air and lots of nature, but the drive to town, to the store, to church, to the gas station- well, that just gets old. At home in the city, I never wish for more activity, more civilization, more things to do. But after a week in the Maine woods, I'm somewhat longing for our city once more. I know this feeling will be short lived- once back in the hub-bub of Columbus, I'll be wishing for the clean air and orange post-sunset glow reflecting into little pond.

Tom

Catawba Marshes, Lake Erie

The floating leaved marshes between the mainland and Catawba Island provided for amazing reflective sunsets. I took this image from the parking lot of our hotel.

It's just too bad that the non-native invasive species, that giant grass in the foreground, Phragmites australis subsp. australis, or simply "Phragmites", has become so prevalent along the lakeshore. For more about this nasty plant, you need to watch this video.

There is a native subspecies of Phragmites, Phragmites australis subspecies americanus that isn't invasive, but it is quite rare. I've found it in Lake Erie Marshes and prairie fens further inland.

Tom

Marblehead, Lake Erie

To all my Flickr friends who have inspired me with their beautiful images of Lake Erie, here is my contribution to their collective body of work. Megan and Weston allowed me to leave the hotel room early the morning of June 7th and drive the ten miles or so to Marblehead, to photograph Lake Erie and the Columbus Limestone that forms the shoreline there. My only company- the waves and two fisherman. If you go to Marblehead, go early before sunrise, you will not regret it. Megan just looked at this image and said "When did you go to the ocean?"

Tom

Painted Trilliums and Pink Lady Slippers

Welcome to Maine. If you've been following my twitter updates over on the right, you'll know a little bit of what we've been up to. Yesterday, mostly, I searched for painted trilliums. I spent a few hours going through the various habitats and completely struck out. It wasn't until we loaded Weston into the stroller, covered it with a bug net, and rolled him down the back driveway, that I finally found my quarry. Only three flowering plants, but isn't this species stunning? Their range just barely nips extreme northeast Ohio. I've looked for them several times up in that region, but have struck out each time. Today, finally, I saw and photographed this beautiful trillium for the first time.


Although the bugs were crazy, and I had to wear a head net the whole time, photographing the sunset at Little Pond is always one of my favorite things to do here. Last night's show did not disappoint.



And Pink Lady Slippers too? Yes, I surely wasn't expecting to find this species in full bloom, surely not at the same time as painted trillium, but here in Maine, the phenology seems to be compressed compared to our long springs in Ohio. I just happened to notice two beautiful slippers in the dim light as I was heading back up to the house, and captured this image with flash. More today hopefully with natural light.

So much to see here, so much to photograph.

Tom

Sky Watch Friday- Evening Sunset in the Neighborhood

Although I'm only an occasional participant in Sky Watch Friday, last night, Megan, Weston, and I walked through the neighborhood, and I carried my point and shoot Panasonic LZ-8. I couldn't help but think last night's sky would be perfect for Sky Watch Friday.

Welcome SkyWatchers, welcome regular readers, sit back, relax, and enjoy the sunset.

And after you've done that, you might enjoy viewing more of my images in a larger former. Please visit TA Photography.

Tom

Box-elder Sunset

Box-elder Sunset, originally uploaded by Tom Arbour.

Wednesday evening I made it home before Megan and I had a few minutes to crab the cold weather gear, the camera, and head down to the river. What a beautiful sunset we had this evening. I kept my gear light by only with only my 60 mm lens attached to the camera. Having only one focal length allowed me to concentrate on shapes, composition, and the isolation of features silhouetted against the pink sunset. In this picture, I'm standing in the thick mud of the shore of the Olentangy, pointing the camera slightly up towards a box elder tree. It is interesting how the peduncles of this tree are still attached, although the helicopter shaped samaras have long blown away. Box-elder is one of our forgotten maples. The leaves are divided into three leaflets, looking more like poison ivy than a maple tree. But the fruits give them away. Another giveaway? This trees twigs grow opposite from each other, although there are certainly twigs in this image that break the rule. It will not be long before this tree sprouts new green peduncles with yellow green flowers, and the cycle will begin again. Spring, if you are reading this, I am ready for you!


Today Megan and I are at my "childhood" home in Munroe Falls, Ohio, near Akron. We'll be joining my family and friends today on trip on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. The train travels along the Cuyahoga River Valley towards Cleveland through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and you can be sure that I'll bring my camera. Also, it is a big weekend in the Arbour/Thomas household. My mom's father, my grandfather, turned 88 on valentines day! My mom's birthday is two days later, today, and she is 58 great years today. And last but not least, yours truly was also born on this day in 1979. Yep, that's right, I was my mom's birthday present. It is quite nice to that we share the same birthday weekend. So happy birthday to my Grandpa and my Mom!

Tom

Tonight's Sunset

Tonight's Sunset, originally uploaded by Tom Arbour.

A spectacular sunset here in Columbus Ohio this evening. Megan and I went for a walk earlier in the day, but we had to wear our ankle high boots the water was up so high in the park just behind our house. When there is plenty of standing water in the park, I always hope for great sunsets, since the light bounces off the water and everything really looks spectacular. Sure enough, after a week of gray days, we finally had a break in the clouds this evening. When I looked out the window and saw the sun was getting low and the sky was a wonderful pinkish orange, I grabbed the camera and raced down to the park. It was worth the run, I got there just in time to grab this shot.

Tom

Munroe Falls Sunset

Munroe Falls Sunset, originally uploaded by Tom Arbour.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Megan and I are in Northeast Ohio, and I've been taking pictures. I just didn't have any decent way to get the photos from the camera to my parents' computer until this morning, when I bought a memory card reader at Office Max.

Snow fell here last night-- It barely covers the ground, but we do have a white Christmas--but just barely.

This is a shot from my parents' driveway on Saturday evening. I played a ton of basketball here, and you can see the orange outline of the backboard in the bottom left hand corner of the photo.

Merry Christmas,

Tom

Sunsets

Eight hours of sunlight just is not enough for one day. Winter would be great if we got at least twelve hours a day, but if that were the case, we wouldn't have winter at all, would we? For my morning commute, I head due east, and since my route is in the middle of mall-land, I've got plenty of wide open views of the sunrise. Up until yesterday, I had been leaving work about 4:00 or so, to get home with a little light to enjoy while not working. Yesterday I drove home as the sun was setting, and the 15 minutes it took me to drive four miles was fairly spectacular.

I ran into the house and grabbed the camera.

Tonight, although not quite as spectacular as yesterday evening, also made for a nice drive home. I had a bit more time to grab the camera and tripod, run down to the woods, and snap a few more photos.

All in all, views like these are what make winters here in Columbus bearable.

Tom

Evening Sunset

Tonight, the real world kept me occupied for the most part, and I did not have much time to naturalize. Daylight is fleeting, and boy is it hard to eat, clean up, and then have enough light to take photos. Here is a black walnut tree, Juglans nigra, silhouetted against a stormy sunset. The black walnuts are falling and are being quickly stashed away by the gray squirrels. This tree's leaves are also beginning to fall.

Tom