I’ve travelled a fair amount and thus capture some of the beauty of the places I go. I am also a “cloud collector” in that I look for and identify clouds. The book that introduced me to this is The Cloud Collector’s Handbook by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. It provides (more or less) a genus, species, and variety approach to cloud identification.

• Sunset over Kilimonjaro frion Amboseli Kenya

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  One of those times I can’t believe I caught the natural depth of color in a photograph. A combination of stratus, alto cumulus, and cirrostratus clouds.

  

• Sunset through Trees

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  Taken from my back deck in Eugene, OR, I had the leisure to try shots at many different times to get this lovely color.

  

• Sunset over Edwards AFB

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  It’s somewhat surprising, but deserts tend to get great sunsets. This particular shot is interesting because the sun’s coloration brings out the radial arms of stratocumulus radiatus, which you wouldn’t normally notice.

  

• Hurricane Ridge Fog in Trees

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  Fog in trees always gives me a surreal feeling. The mountains and glaciers in the back are Mount Olympus and Mount Cassie (20 miles away). Taken from Hurricane Ridge, Sunset Point, Olympic Peninsula, WA. Fog and stratus clouds.

  

• Hurricane Ridge and Ranger Station

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  One of the difficulties with mountain shots is capturing the size. The ranger station helps, but it still doesn’t capture the fact that Mount Olympus and Mount Cassie are 20 miles from the station. Taken from Hurricane Ridge, Sunset Point, Olympic Peninsula, WA. Fog and stratus clouds.

  

• Frogner Park, Oslo, Norway

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  I love the multiple layers of distance in this shot. The perspective of the people in front and distant column bring out the vastness of the cumulus clouds. This picture always reminds me of the difference in attitude of most U.S. citizens and Norwegians regarding public nudity in art. The column in back of the fountain is composed of life sized human nudes of all ages.

  

• Cumulus Congestus with Vellum

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  This is over the Peruvian Amazon. The vellum is the thin cloud in front of the other clouds. Vellums specifically form around cumulus congestus clouds or the better known rainy form cumulonimbus (thunderhead). Vellums sometimes linger after the storm cloud dissipates.

  

• Plymouth Harbor

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  Sometimes you just get lucky. I was out whale watching with my family in Cape Cod and offhandedly took two pictures of the harbor when the boat came back into port. The telling part of this picture is looking through the windows in the steeple. Common stratocumulus clouds.

  

• Lake Quinault, Olympic Peninsula

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  A lovely quiet lake reflection shot. This shows you don’t always need a full blown SLR to get a good shot. Taken with my pocket camera.

  

• Australian Mountain and Clouds

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  This, rather classic shot, is from a digitized negative – came across just fine. Fog and cirrus clouds.

  

• Big Cascade, Iguazu Falls

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  These falls in Argentina are bigger than Niagara Falls. This is only one of many spectacular falls. To truly appreciate the size, you need to notice the people on the middle left.

  

• Cloud Iridescence

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  Iridescent clouds tend to be subtle and often overlooked. It took me quite a few attempts with many different clouds before I got this winner. Taken outside my front door in Rosamond, CA. Cumulus clouds with the iridescence in cirrus clouds.