HDR Photography
This is a sight I haven’t seen since I lived in the Bay Area: a layer of low-lying clouds caused by a temperature inversion that look remarkably like the marine layer. Though I know the origins aren’t the same in the Central Valley of Connecticut, that mix of perfectly clear sky and rolling clouds brought me back in time and made rising at dawn worth it.
I was semi-impressed to see the pigeons waiting patiently far away from this lunch-enjoyer in Amsterdam, but then I saw the green writing as his feet. While I’m sure that simple graffiti or utility markings are the true meaning of the lines, I like to imagine instead that they represent some kind of arcane invocation that protects his sandwich from avian interference.
This bucolic Dutch morning puts me most in mind of Iain M. Banks’s science fiction utopias. That may sound “out of pocket,” but allow me to explain: His far-future settings often feature people who are choosing intentionally charming but low-tech lives doing what they enjoy in beautiful settings. These boaters traveling down the Vechte feel part of the same vein. Though they live in one of the most advanced countries on Earth, they can still choose relatively simple experiences and ways of living.
Though the drifting was spectacular, the #GRIDLIFE spectators provided some fascinating compositions of their own. Standing atop this hill by a rally-specced Porsche, the crowd looks like generals overseeing a battlefield.
This was the full width of the drifting shot I captured of this Audi—so large, so fast, so drifty that it’s exploding out of the frame. Though I was originally going to delete the shot, there’s something about the “exit stage right” energy of the unintentional crop that I can’t ignore it.
Students have returned to campus and summer winds to a close; our campus is so green and full of life!
At CSI Ommen, Geoff Case coaches through a warm-up for the jumpers.
Drifting is an activity best left to professionals, but no professional is perfect—this BMW is doing some earth moving of its own in plain view of a true earthmover.
The deep artificial canyon between the two buildings of 55 Elm is deeply shadowed as late afternoon shades into evening.
Weather is clear and a trip to #GRIDLIFE tomorrow is on! Let’s celebrate with a few more previously unseen shots from last year’s event.
The final decision on whether or not to attend this year’s #GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends in Lime Rock will depend on weather, meaning it’s currently up in the air. I thought I might match that with some shots from last year’s event of cars literally “up in the air.”
Connecticut’s Central Valley is a leafy, green place in the summer; Trinity’s neogothic towers jut from the canopy in conveniently contrasting colors.
As an American enamored with the idea of walkable towns and cities, I was curious on visiting the Netherlands whether it could stand up to its reputation. I was surprised to find a country that resembled nothing more than the vision of utopia as it is typically presented in American science fiction. Now, I know the Netherlands is a real place with real challenges and limitations, but the infrastructure alone paints a very different vision of priorities. Consider this bridge in Ommen over the Vecht river: Less than 50% of the width of the bridge is allotted for motorized vehicle traffic. The majority is covered by bike lanes and pedestrian areas, including benches and art.
With my quadcopter hovering along the diagonal axis of Trinity College’s chapel’s steeple, the mirror symmetry of that structure is easily apparent—and stands in contrast to the shapes of the building beneath it among the leafy green trees.
Decaseconds 