Sky Diary: the blog

My short documentary film “Chasing Reality” will appear in the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 9-10, at The Oaks theaters in Melbourne, Florida. It’s about the decidedly non-extreme ordeals storm chasers endure to get a glimpse of that elusive tornado.

You can download this month’s Brevard Live magazine, which contains the festival program, or pick it up at local bars and restaurants. There are lots of highlights, from “A Beautiful Belly” on Friday night and the red carpet reception, to a bevy of Florida, horror and short films. The Florida Filmmakers & More showcase Saturday morning at 10 a.m. will feature my movie and several others. Come out to see it! It’s $10 to get into Saturday morning’s program – as well as films and a filmmakers’ roundtable Saturday afternoon – and $60 for an all-access VIP pass to two days of events, including the Friday reception and Saturday night party. It’s a great deal, and all proceeds go to Unconditional Love Inc., a nonprofit HIV patient care center.

It was a long day Saturday of gardening, puttering and a most pleasant party. So when we got home and the sky started sparking around 11 p.m. or so, I was not particularly motivated to chase the lightning. The storms were moving offshore, and the best view would have been from Cape Canaveral or maybe Cocoa Beach. After several minutes of agonizing, I instead drove just down the road to Cocoa’s Riverfront Park and took some shots pointing east toward the storms. The lightning was really far away, but the lights on the water and the S.R. 520 causeway bridge made for an interesting setting. Here’s the best of the bolts, partially obscured by clouds. I cropped this shot to get the framing I wanted.

 
I used the Nikon D7000 to shoot Hurricane Irene’s big waves in Cocoa Beach on Friday as the storm missed Florida but, nonetheless, churned up the Atlantic.

It was challenging getting the focus right with all the glare. Guess I have to bring a blankie to cover my head next time. Still, the waves were pretty awesome!  This is a one-minute look.

Impressive, isn’t it?

Usually, in Florida, this is about the time we hold our breath and check to make sure our belongings are as secured as they can be and doublecheck the boards (or shutters, or whatever) on the windows. But it appears Hurricane Irene’s worst will be reserved not just for the Carolinas, but for the northeast. I’ve always wondered how the northeast would react to a storm like this. Unfortunately, we’re about to find out. I’d encourage residents up and down the East Coast of the United States not to take this storm lightly. Secure small objects, lay in a supply of water (one gallon per person, per day) and batteries for flashlights, and have enough nonperishable food to last three days. Even being without power for a few days (let alone weeks) can be miserable, and if you don’t have the right supplies, it’s much worse. You might also stock a cooler with ice. It won’t last forever, but it can tide you over. We also make sure we have gas for our generator and propane for our grill. The grill, which also has a burner, meant we ate pretty well in 2004 when we were without power after both Frances and Jeanne. Plus it’s a way to cook meat that’s in your freezer before it goes bad. Also make sure you have a car charger for your cell phone, make sure your car has gas, and get some cash ahead of time.

Here are my links to tropical weather data, including model tracks.

Here are FEMA’s hurricane preparedness tips.

Want to learn more about hurricanes? See the Sky Diary kids’ hurricane page.

For entertaining, thorough weather discussions of Irene and Florida weather in general, check out Steve Sponsler’s High Speed Dirt blog.

I love to see an isolated cell light up right at sunset, and over water, it’s even better. This was more of a cluster of cells, and they produced a few nice bolts before they croaked. I’m sure I missed a few as I drove over Merritt Island and got into position on the Banana River to take photos (and donate a quart of blood to the mosquitoes).

The lightning may have been sparse, but it was pretty. I’ve found sometimes the best crawlers happen in the dying phases of the storm, and sometimes you have to wait several minutes between flashes to nab them. But this storm hovering off Cape Canaveral really stopped when it stopped producing, allowing me to get several more mosquito bites as I painstakingly held the shutter open for 20 or 30 seconds at a time, hoping against hope. Oh, well. Comes with the territory.

Art of Sand returns this fall in a nice new location – Space Coast Stadium. I’ve edited some ads (like the one above) for this Brevard Cultural Alliance project, held in conjunction with the Viera Company, using video CCI shot last year. (I’m the narrator, too!) I’ll be shooting lots more video for the festival, including interviews with the artists as they create their works. The videos will be accessible on-site by scanning in QR codes, and there will be multimedia goodies at the stadium as well. The fest is scheduled for Oct. 14-23, 2011.

It had been almost 15 years since I’d been to Las Vegas, and this time, I was traveling with friends, so it was better. It was also vastly different, with a number of properties that weren’t there before.

Previously, I’d used the city mostly as a base for day trips to places like Death Valley and the Grand Canyon (why, you say, that’s not a day trip, Chris! It is if you are a crazy drivin’ fool). While I got outside the city this time, to beautiful Red Rock Canyon and monumental Hoover Dam, I saw more inside the city, from the glamorous new casino properties to the low-key cool of the Pinball Hall of Fame. Speaking of which, here is an eerie video of me playing with a strange old coin-operated marionette clown at the place, shot by Kathryn Gonzalez. Meet Peppy the Clown.

Vegas is a photographer’s playground, but it’s also a loud, fake, glitzy, loud, smoky, frenetic, loud – did I say loud? – cheap, rich man’s paradise. I feel I barely scratched the surface, photographically speaking.

I’m saving my energy for another day to write about the extraordinary meal we had at Jose Andres’ “e” restaurant. But here’s a selection of photos from Las Vegas.

I took a chance on a wave of lightning storms after dark Monday – they seem to be rare creatures these days – and dashed down the road to Viera with my camera to get out of the rain. It’s amazing how circumstances conspire to deprive you of shots. The bolts were few and far between this night, yet on a relatively quiet road, a car drove in front of me just as one hit. Another strike had its best leg just out of frame. Still another was so bright (and close) that it drastically overexposed the frame and burned itself on my retina for a while. And a perfect shot eluded me during one of the two seconds when the shutter wasn’t open each minute.

Still, as you can see above, I got one. But I also wanted to recount the ones that got away. Even if you think you know how to do this stuff, it’s never easy to get that perfectly framed shot when it comes to lightning. It’s unpredictable.

Earlier Monday, I drove south to check out some storms and saw a lightning bolt hit well ahead of the rain and clouds – one of those bolts from the blue. That’s why the lightning safety folks say, “When thunder roars, go indoors.”

There’s a reason photographers like to shoot at the beach. It has a magic all its own. The morning (and evening) light is lovely, and there’s something about the waves that makes people relax.

I just shot photos at the beach in Cape Canaveral of my sister-in-law and her adorable kids. While the children’s attention span was short for posed shots, they were so sweet playing in the ocean, one couldn’t help but get some nice photos.

Ah, luminous youth! See the photos here.

I posted a gallery from this year’s Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, featuring a smattering of photos from various events.

For some of my cocktail photos from this trip, I used a little LED video light to add drama and translucence to the drink. It drastically changed the look of some cocktails, which might seem pale yellow or green in natural light, and then suddenly spooky and gemlike with the spotlight. This is an example from the Bombay Sapphire gin luncheon at restaurant August.

I love taking photos of cocktails with a macro lens – for many of those close-up food and drink pix, I’m using a 105mm Nikkor. It’s one of my favorite lenses; I love the sharpness, the low depth of field and the way it brings out details, like the coriander in this pretty cocktail (below) from the Pama Popstars and Bubbles Brunch.

People’s reaction to this drink, dubbed the Captain & Tennille, was interesting; two of my friends, both with sophisticated palates, were turned off by the herbs. This may have to do with the flavor debate centered around cilantro (which is the same as coriander, before it grows flowers and leaves). I once had a friend who hated cilantro so much, he wouldn’t get near parsley, either, because it reminded him of the former. Cilantro/coriander tastes soapy to some people, perhaps because of a genetically inherited palate.

There’s always the possibility that a perfectly prepared drink or dish will turn off someone just because of the way her tongue is configured. But I loved this cocktail’s complexity, and apparently, I’m perfectly happy with coriander. The herbal flavor helped undercut the drink’s fruit-and-champagne sweetness.

Here’s the recipe for the cocktail, so you can taste for yourself:

CAPTAIN & TENNILLE

1 slice fresh ginger
10 coriander leaves
1 1/2 ounces Absolut Citron
1/2 ounce PAMA
1 ounce fresh pineapple juice
1 ounce fresh apple juice
champagne

Muddle ginger and coriander leaves in the base of a mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients and shake well over ice. Add champagne. Rock gently. Fine-strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a coriander flower.