A Photographer's Worst Nightmare
(First, rhetorical question [sort of]: how does a musician go from making this to this? And why?)
Ok, so...
Neolmas and I decided to make our way up to the Gila cliff dwellings (national park) for an overnight stay and hike for two days. The day was cooler than it's been recently and shockingly windless for here. It was, however, very sunny, with a few scattered cumulus around - a nice change to the usual cloudless skies and blazing sun endured on most days.
Around maybe 5pm, as we made our way on a winding road there, I saw that we were nearly under the leading edge of a cumulonimbus anvil, and when I looked closer, in one area under its spread there was a cluster of very impressive mammatus clouds, which is a very rare sight out here. I told Neolmas (driving) to stop the car so we could take pictures. We came up to what looked like a perfect look-out area, just around the curving bend, with an small, abandoned building (looked something like this, only more modern) and ledge that looked out over valley below.
There were cumulonimbus in the distance as well, including a skinny, towering one I decided to shoot first. As usual, I was struggling with focus and aperture - I wanted these photos to be perfect, and I was trying to get more efficient. Suddenly, Neolmas caught my attention and pointed out the head of another animal poking out from below one of the missing windows of the abandoned shack, just near the door. The colour made me think it was a deer faun, but it looked to have horns. It was too far away to see, but before it could run off, I tried to snap some pictures from that distance and work my way closer, cautiously. Of course, the focus wasn't working, as I found out by reviewing the photos and zooming in after the fact. The 'deer' started to move, and I could see it was small. It walked to the entrance of the building and stood there looking at us, but it made no move to run. It didn't seem scared in the slightest. I tried more pictures, and I got a few that looked decent.
In all this time, I forgot about the mammatus anvil and panicked a little. I turned around to walk around the bend to see if I could get a good shot of it when I realized the other cumulonimbus in the distance was growing fantastically, with the anvil spreading and pluming impressively as the sun went down, giving it more of a light golden tint. It looked way too awesome, and now the lighting was going to be fading fast as the sun went below the mountains.
Of course, people started showing up. People driving by saw us pulled over and decided that what we were photographing was also worthy of their attention. At this point, I was still trying to get a good shot of the distant 'nimbus. I was approached from the left by a skeezy looking dude with a weathered face, wearing sunglasses, obviously the father of three or so bratty kids that were running around making noise. He was watching me for a bit before he told me I was 'doing it wrong,' and I don't remember what he said. Annoyed but trying not to show it, I told him to show me his technique. He sort of made some vague hints and something, but didn't bother showing me anything at all. I guess it was all to sport a pompous attitude.
It was fortuitous, then, that the 'deer' had apparently exited the abandoned building when all the people showed up, but instead of running off, had stuck around poking at people curiously. It wasn't a deer at all, it was a damn stray goat. He was definitely a billy goat, and looked a hell of a lot like this. I patted him as he came close, and crouched down to try to get some good face-on shots, which, in the growing dusky light, was nearly impossible since he wouldn't stop moving. Frustration. I managed a couple shots and used the forbidden flash, then played a little with the goat. I tugged on his horns and realized that one of them was broken off quite a bit. What was weirder were the two nubs of horns growing above the other two, which made him look impressive and almost dragon like, or mythical.
I realized how dark it was actually getting, and that I'd completely missed out on the original cloud I'd meant to photograph. I jogged around the bend which sloped down a little. Off the side of the road was a flat out look with some more abandoned bits and pieces of concrete building, including a defunct, but nevertheless awesome, small cherub fountain. There were kids sitting around it looking into the east. The anvil had obviously moved away by now. Had we really been there that long? But my dismay was quickly displaced by the incredible, awe-inspiring scene before me.
Across the valley, in the deepening blue sky, was a towering cumulonimbus like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was illuminated by the light pink sky behind me to the west, and somehow you could see the base as well as the anvil very clearly. It was still dissipating, but had been so powerful it was taking a while. The most striking feature about it was how wide it was, and the fact that it had striations running in concentric circles from the anvil to the base. In fact, it looked just like a mix between this and and this, or maybe these. The overall colour was darker, like this, without the sun hitting the top. There were occasional lightning bolts running down through the cloud to the ground. Eerie and amazing. Totally stunning. I set up both my little digicam and EOS to take as many shots as I could, including the kids and the fountain in some pictures. The lightning was difficult; I tried my best to capture the bolts, getting a couple shots and botching one. Overall, photos were not all great, but I got a good few that looked at least like they'd make an impression nevertheless. Some of them were probably way better than I was anticipating. I was texting friends about the experience. I was very excited to get home and display them bigger. They were really a catch.
And then I woke up.
AAAAAAAAA-
AAAAAAGHGHGH-
WHAT-THE-FFFFFFFFUUUUUCK.
You don't even understand.
YOU JUST DON'T, OK. :C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other dreams of possible interest.
Earlier in the night there was a dream where Neolmas opened the door and we found my two friends from back in Minnesota lying on the ground sleeping. It was night and pretty cold. Instead of knock and disrupt us, apparently, they'd decided to just camp out on the dirt ground. Apparently they had 'run away from home'.
When I later told my one friend this dream, she told me she'd had a dream about the other friend. Very weird shit. First time such a correlation has been noted between all three of us in a dream. Hmm.
Even more interesting was a dream I had where, at the very end, I was approached by a guy in his young teens who seemed to be planning a school shooting or something. He was obviously distressed. At the last minute, he turned and asked my advice. I told him not to do what he was thinking about doing, and to listen to what his little brother had told him. Apparently. I looked down at the ground and saw the stationary silhouette of a seabird, and knew he would go through with the drama anyway. His name was Eston, or Esten. I've never heard that name before.
Morning before last had me dreaming of genetically engineered furry humans, sort of like The Island of Dr. Moreau, but very real. They had been excommunicated from the rest of society and lived on what were essentially like native reservations, and had come to be called the same. Partly this was their own wish, just to get away from their torment, both by other people, but also themselves. They were otherwise normal people who made normal families. I was interacting with one family who had small kids, and my big snake bit the kid's hand. The dad - looking every bit like a real Wolfman Jack with black hair all over his head and a muzzle similar to the werewolf in American Werewolf in London, tried to kill the snake but I stopped him, pleading that it wasn't his fault and he was just scared and doing what snakes do. The kid took my side, and I helped him out by putting Purell on a paper towel and having him hold it on the wound despite the sting.
Fascinating dreams, though. All have been so realistic I was shocked to find they weren't when I woke up. I remember them like real events. Why?
Ok, so...
Neolmas and I decided to make our way up to the Gila cliff dwellings (national park) for an overnight stay and hike for two days. The day was cooler than it's been recently and shockingly windless for here. It was, however, very sunny, with a few scattered cumulus around - a nice change to the usual cloudless skies and blazing sun endured on most days.
Around maybe 5pm, as we made our way on a winding road there, I saw that we were nearly under the leading edge of a cumulonimbus anvil, and when I looked closer, in one area under its spread there was a cluster of very impressive mammatus clouds, which is a very rare sight out here. I told Neolmas (driving) to stop the car so we could take pictures. We came up to what looked like a perfect look-out area, just around the curving bend, with an small, abandoned building (looked something like this, only more modern) and ledge that looked out over valley below.
There were cumulonimbus in the distance as well, including a skinny, towering one I decided to shoot first. As usual, I was struggling with focus and aperture - I wanted these photos to be perfect, and I was trying to get more efficient. Suddenly, Neolmas caught my attention and pointed out the head of another animal poking out from below one of the missing windows of the abandoned shack, just near the door. The colour made me think it was a deer faun, but it looked to have horns. It was too far away to see, but before it could run off, I tried to snap some pictures from that distance and work my way closer, cautiously. Of course, the focus wasn't working, as I found out by reviewing the photos and zooming in after the fact. The 'deer' started to move, and I could see it was small. It walked to the entrance of the building and stood there looking at us, but it made no move to run. It didn't seem scared in the slightest. I tried more pictures, and I got a few that looked decent.
In all this time, I forgot about the mammatus anvil and panicked a little. I turned around to walk around the bend to see if I could get a good shot of it when I realized the other cumulonimbus in the distance was growing fantastically, with the anvil spreading and pluming impressively as the sun went down, giving it more of a light golden tint. It looked way too awesome, and now the lighting was going to be fading fast as the sun went below the mountains.
Of course, people started showing up. People driving by saw us pulled over and decided that what we were photographing was also worthy of their attention. At this point, I was still trying to get a good shot of the distant 'nimbus. I was approached from the left by a skeezy looking dude with a weathered face, wearing sunglasses, obviously the father of three or so bratty kids that were running around making noise. He was watching me for a bit before he told me I was 'doing it wrong,' and I don't remember what he said. Annoyed but trying not to show it, I told him to show me his technique. He sort of made some vague hints and something, but didn't bother showing me anything at all. I guess it was all to sport a pompous attitude.
It was fortuitous, then, that the 'deer' had apparently exited the abandoned building when all the people showed up, but instead of running off, had stuck around poking at people curiously. It wasn't a deer at all, it was a damn stray goat. He was definitely a billy goat, and looked a hell of a lot like this. I patted him as he came close, and crouched down to try to get some good face-on shots, which, in the growing dusky light, was nearly impossible since he wouldn't stop moving. Frustration. I managed a couple shots and used the forbidden flash, then played a little with the goat. I tugged on his horns and realized that one of them was broken off quite a bit. What was weirder were the two nubs of horns growing above the other two, which made him look impressive and almost dragon like, or mythical.
I realized how dark it was actually getting, and that I'd completely missed out on the original cloud I'd meant to photograph. I jogged around the bend which sloped down a little. Off the side of the road was a flat out look with some more abandoned bits and pieces of concrete building, including a defunct, but nevertheless awesome, small cherub fountain. There were kids sitting around it looking into the east. The anvil had obviously moved away by now. Had we really been there that long? But my dismay was quickly displaced by the incredible, awe-inspiring scene before me.
Across the valley, in the deepening blue sky, was a towering cumulonimbus like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was illuminated by the light pink sky behind me to the west, and somehow you could see the base as well as the anvil very clearly. It was still dissipating, but had been so powerful it was taking a while. The most striking feature about it was how wide it was, and the fact that it had striations running in concentric circles from the anvil to the base. In fact, it looked just like a mix between this and and this, or maybe these. The overall colour was darker, like this, without the sun hitting the top. There were occasional lightning bolts running down through the cloud to the ground. Eerie and amazing. Totally stunning. I set up both my little digicam and EOS to take as many shots as I could, including the kids and the fountain in some pictures. The lightning was difficult; I tried my best to capture the bolts, getting a couple shots and botching one. Overall, photos were not all great, but I got a good few that looked at least like they'd make an impression nevertheless. Some of them were probably way better than I was anticipating. I was texting friends about the experience. I was very excited to get home and display them bigger. They were really a catch.
And then I woke up.
AAAAAAAAA-
AAAAAAGHGHGH-
WHAT-THE-FFFFFFFFUUUUUCK.
You don't even understand.
YOU JUST DON'T, OK. :C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other dreams of possible interest.
Earlier in the night there was a dream where Neolmas opened the door and we found my two friends from back in Minnesota lying on the ground sleeping. It was night and pretty cold. Instead of knock and disrupt us, apparently, they'd decided to just camp out on the dirt ground. Apparently they had 'run away from home'.
When I later told my one friend this dream, she told me she'd had a dream about the other friend. Very weird shit. First time such a correlation has been noted between all three of us in a dream. Hmm.
Even more interesting was a dream I had where, at the very end, I was approached by a guy in his young teens who seemed to be planning a school shooting or something. He was obviously distressed. At the last minute, he turned and asked my advice. I told him not to do what he was thinking about doing, and to listen to what his little brother had told him. Apparently. I looked down at the ground and saw the stationary silhouette of a seabird, and knew he would go through with the drama anyway. His name was Eston, or Esten. I've never heard that name before.
Morning before last had me dreaming of genetically engineered furry humans, sort of like The Island of Dr. Moreau, but very real. They had been excommunicated from the rest of society and lived on what were essentially like native reservations, and had come to be called the same. Partly this was their own wish, just to get away from their torment, both by other people, but also themselves. They were otherwise normal people who made normal families. I was interacting with one family who had small kids, and my big snake bit the kid's hand. The dad - looking every bit like a real Wolfman Jack with black hair all over his head and a muzzle similar to the werewolf in American Werewolf in London, tried to kill the snake but I stopped him, pleading that it wasn't his fault and he was just scared and doing what snakes do. The kid took my side, and I helped him out by putting Purell on a paper towel and having him hold it on the wound despite the sting.
Fascinating dreams, though. All have been so realistic I was shocked to find they weren't when I woke up. I remember them like real events. Why?