Capture: Coast to Coast
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Leigh Russell, in reply to
the conversation in Chinese was of the video posted in the Smithsonian article
And over lunch I’ve been poking around Youku looking for an equivalent video to the one in the Smithsonian article, but I just can’t find anything. [...] It’s annoying, because now I’ve gone and made myself all curious about it.
Hi Chris, how are things? That's disappointing about the video being blocked, so I'll describe it to you. It was daytime footage, sufficiently wobbly to suggest that it was taken using a hand-held cellphone. The main part of the light in the sky was vivid, like part of a rainbow except not bowed, but a horizontal fairly rectangular chunk which was slightly uneven and lying on its side. The view looked as if it could have been rural, slightly hilly and with a lot of greenery. In the backgound people talking amongst themselves and rather lovely piece of music was being played, obviously just what was going on there at the time. My interest in what was being said is really to do with the historically surreal juxtaposition of the everyday with the disaster than would have descended on them so unexpectedly and so soon after. Unlike the movies, there is no warning soundtrack. The situation in Christchurch would have been exactly the same - just another day. LiIlith says that there were lots of sightings of strange lights in relation to the initial big quake there, which were discounted at the time. That was at night, whereas the one I've described here was in broad daylight.
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Leigh Russell, in reply to
A salt meadow on an estuary near Dunedin. As I recall there were glassworts here but I don’t seem to have any closeups. Quite a number of salt-meadow specialised species in this photo.
That was a lovely walk, Lillith! When I wrote about it I spent ages tracking down information about the reserve, about some of the tiny plants in the salt-meadow, and locating sites that provide useful informaton about these environments. If anyone else is keen on this sort of thing you can find it in my article here: An estuary walkabout ~ Kaikorai Lagoon and Island Park Reserve. There is a photo of the glasswort, although growing in amongst other plants.
In the top photo you can see the salt-meadow - cushion-like. If you come across one of these DON'T stand on it!!!
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Leigh Russell, in reply to
Spoonbill and body guards, Otago Harbour
Hi David, I wonder what part of the harbour your one was in? This beauty was resident in the Kaikorai Lagoon for a time. I have since seen two of them together there, which makes me wonder what the young spoonies look like! They are such odd looking birds and yet so very lovely in their own special way. Occasionally I see one flying past here in the evening, fairly high. The shape of their bills makes them unmistakable.
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
Thanks, Leigh. It sounds like most videos of just before the quake, except I hadn't seen the lights. What's annoying is that it sounds like the kind of video where I should be able to get around it being blocked just be looking at the Chinese video sites - it certainly doesn't sound like anything disharmonious that the censors would delete as soon as its uploaded. It's surprising these lights would be visible in broad daylight, but Sichuan is known for its humid, very cloudy climate. A friend was living there at the time - in Chengdu, so close enough to feel very strong shaking, but just far enough to be safe - and he used to post comments on his blog along the lines of "Wow, actually saw the sun today!". There's a Chinese saying "蜀犬吠日/Shǔ quǎn fèi rì, which literally means "A dog of Shu barking at the sun" meaning somebody getting all in a fuss over something perfectly ordinary that they've never seen before - Shu was an ancient kingdom in the Sichuan/Chongqing area, and the cloudy climate means the sun is such a rare sight the local dogs would freak out on the rare occasions it appeared. I guess that kind of climate would make earthquake lights especially visible even in broad daylight.
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Thank you, Chris, I love all the local content you so often include! And the expression about the dog barking particularly! Hope you are getting plenty of good clear sunshine where you are. :-)
The coast here seems to be specialising in cloud this summer, which is all very interesting in its way, but not all that summery. I don't think we are at the barking dog stage yet however!
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Leigh, the spoonbill was in the city end of Blanket Bay, so out towards Port Chalmers.
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Leigh Russell, in reply to
Thanks for that David. I'll know to look for them if / when I am out that way. Since posting the remark about the spoonbills in Kaikorai Lagoon I have been reliably informed that there have been more of them there on the inland side of the bridge.
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Out on Te Atatu Peninsula this morning.
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And some more from the same location.
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Lilith __, in reply to
Te Atatu Peninsula
I like the one with the picnic table very much. So small in that big space and with that ferocious sky.
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
So small in that big space and with that ferocious sky.
Yup. Russell may have been "only" out at Te Atatu, but what he's not telling us is that what he was doing there was photographing infinity.
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Leigh Russell, in reply to
Te Atatu Peninsula
Hi Russell, I'm with Lillith about one with the picnic table in it!
It's nice to see the complexity of Auckland city reduced to a manageable size, with its skyline appearing to be far in the distance, although those of us who are familiar with the location know that it is relatively close at hand. The mudflats are such a vital part of the intertidal zone there - I had forgotten. It's a long time since I have been there.
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Thanks guys! There's a bit of the Camera+ HDR effect (about 45% intensity) in the picnic table shot, but I try not to over-use that
It's a nice ride out from Pt Chevalier. If I go right round the peninsula it works out about 20km.
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Lilith __, in reply to
There’s a bit of the Camera+ HDR effect
It adds a nice crispness and depth if not overdone. Particularly good for low-contrast subjects like clouds. :-)
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Can't beat the old tyre swing as the sun goes down.
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Hebe, in reply to
Like!
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Tunnel beach, Dunedin. The first three are from the trail to the beach.
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Tunnel beach, because in Dunedin’s early days the Cargill family had a tunnel dug to an otherwise inaccessible beach to give themselves a private beach.
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Nora Leggs, in reply to
Looks gorgeous!
From up here we can see from coast to coast.
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Lilith __, in reply to
Tunnel beach
Tunnel beach is so beautiful! I understand why they dug the tunnel. :-)
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Burning Spare...
...the old tyre swing as
the sun goes down.the afterlife, no angels
fear to retread! -
Cactus flowers. Not sure if they're rare, but sure are pretty.
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Sedately sailing. This same ship created an effect similar to a huge (smokey) fire in downtown AK only half an hour earlier.
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Beaut day!
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
Beaut day!
Indeed. Such light! Such colour! I feel like I need sunglasses just to look at the photos.
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