You can’t look around when you’re looking up, so we’ve had a look around for you.
If you have cloud news that you think we should include here, please email it to us at: hello@cloudappreciationsociety.org.
We were recenlty filmed out cloudspotting with Ron Westmass, Cloud Appreciation Society Member Number 4451, for the German TV international arts and culture show, Euromaxx. Click on the image below to watch the clip on the Deutsche Welle website (ours is the first item in the programme):
“That one over there looks a bit like a TV camera”
The WeatherNet desktop calendar is distributed to clients and friends and contains weather related images from keen photographers. For more information and for a chance to have your photograph appear in next year’s calendar, please submit your photos online here. The winning entry will receive £100, with further prizes for all selected photographs. Best of luck!
Two of our members, Dr Alexander Robertson and Daphne Gleadhill recently told us about this giant bird-shaped cloud which had appeared in the south Iceland sky.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office stated that Altocumulus had been noticed in the area during the day, and speculated whether this formation might have resulted from this.
A Cloud Appreciation Society cloud talk,
London, 19 May
Cloud Appreciation Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, is very excited to be giving an illustrated clouds talk at the first ever Words in The Park festival that is taking place over the weekend of 19-20 May in London’s beautiful Holland Park.
The talk will take place in the marquee for Opera Holland Park, which is situated right in the middle of this small and perfectly formed city park. Gavin will be giving a crash course in cloudspotting, showing some of the many different types of cloud formation, as well as showing some of the best clouds that look like things sent in by members of the Cloud Appreciation Society, some of which appear in our new book ‘Clouds That Look Like Things‘.
This will be a great opportunity for London members to get together. Gavin will be around after the talk, and would love to meet any Society members who come up to say hello. He will also be signing copies of all the Cloud Appreciation Society books, which will be available at the event.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney: an illustrated talk about clouds
2.30pm Saturday 19 May
Words in the Park
at Opera Holland Park, Holland Park, London
Box Office: 0300 999 1000 (Monday–Friday, 10am–6pm)
Book tickets online here…
We are fast approaching a new milestone in the development of the society: 30,000 members. But we have also just past another. The number of people who “like” the Cloud Appreciation Society Facebook Page has just exceeded 10,000. It is always nice to know about fellow cloudspotters so we thought visitors might like an insight into the average age and sex of the people who like the Facebook page. It seems that most likes come from users in the 35-44 age range, with a greater proportion of these being female than male:
Who likes The Cloud Appreciation Society? Our Facebook page demographic graphic
The Cloud Appreciation Society on BBC Breakfast
On Saturday 5 May, we were invited onto BBC Breakfast to chat about the Society’s new book, ‘Clouds That Look Like Things’. The BBC invited viewers to send in thier own photographs of clouds in the shape of things. Amongst the many great photos sent in was a great one of Margaret Thatcher. As is always the case on TV, they had very little time to show them. We could them on the presenter’s little computer screen, and wish they’d been able to show more. Many thanks to any members who took the trouble to send in their images.
Of course, you can always see the latest Clouds that Look Like Things on our gallery pages.
It is the start of a new month, and the end of another day:
Go to Cloud of The Month for May…
Artists Rob and Nick Carter recently contacted us about their latest body of work. It plays on the transient nature of light and form and, they say, also creates a dialogue about the ephermeral aspect of art. The Carters have created their own coloured clouds which continues their preoccupation with light and colour and is achieved by a unique action photography that captures paint pigment spontaneously thrown into the air, juxtaposed against the blue sky as if it were dancing in space.
A hummingbird over Berryton, Kansas, US.
© Shannon Franks
It’s a beautiful example of ‘cloud iridescence’ and you can see it here:
April’s Cloud of the Month…
This was spotted on the National Geographic Daily News website with a story entitled “NASA Rockets Make Weird Clouds Near Edge of Space”.
The effect is caused as chemicals react with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to create the milky white clouds and were visible to both scientists and public in the clear morning skies along the US Northeast coast.
Amanda Murphy discovered this LP whilst at work. It is by British songwriter Graham de Wilde and is aptly named ‘Clouds’
We haven’t heard it and it’s currently out of print but maybe one to look out for. If you have a copy why not leave a comment and let us know what you think?
What cloud is this?
But for members of the Cloud Appreciation Society, naming these familiar high clouds is a doddle. You can see the answer at the bottom of Storm’s piece. But how many know the name of the optical effects that appear as spots of light on either side of the base of the photograph, and are caused by the sunlight passing through the ice crystals of the clouds (answer here)?
Cloud Appreciation Society member, Peter Kaiser from Vienna sent us this link to stunning indoor clouds that were created by artist Berndnaut Smilde. He uses smoke machines combined with lighting and interior atmospheric conditions along with meticulous experimentation to create these results. He told Gizmag “I wanted to make the image of a typical Dutch raincloud inside a space”.
Musician Brian Spence released his new album On the Mend on January 3rd 2012. We think that the cover photograpy is spectacular. It is an image of crepuscular rays and was taken by Angela Craggs.
Now you can go cloudspotting without
getting off the sofa
Unfortunately, Gavin won't be wearing his 'cloud 9' outfit, complete with fake legs. Sadly, it fell apart after he wore it at a previous talk.
Gavin would love to say hello to any cloudspotters who happen to be in the area and free to come along on Wednesday afternoon.
Cloudspotting by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
Wednesday 7 March, 5.15pm
Theatre By The Lake, Lakeside, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5DJ.
Ticket price: £7.50
Box Office: 017687 74411
Or go to the Theatre By The Lake website and scroll down to find the talk under “Gavin Pretor-Pinney” to buy a ticket online.
A stunning fog formation on the coast of Florida, US, is our Cloud of the Month for March. This dramatic wave effect made media headlines around the world. Well done to photographer, J.R. Hott, for capturing such a rare and beautiful formation.
You can see the March Cloud of the Month here.
Diana Willcox, Secretary of the Macclesfield Astronimical Society has asked us to let you know about an upcoming talk on Red Sprites. It will take place on Tuesday, April 3rd 2012 at 20.00 at Hulley’s, Astrozeneca in Macclesfield.
The speaker, Peter McLeish. is a multimedia artist, filmmaker and painter from Montreal. He has been involved in collaboration (based on Red Sprites) with American Scientist Walter A Lyons. Peter’s lecture will include a video presentation and footage of this startling phenomenon.
If you would like to attend this talk you should visit the Macclesfield Astronimical Society website to reserve a ticket and find directions.
Tom Benjamin currently has a solo exhibition running at the St Anne’s Gallery in Lewes called “In the Service of Clouds”. Alex Leith of Viva Lewes Magazine says “He’s a great painter, in the impressionist mode, who does all his paintings au naturel. He has developed a style whereby he kneels down to paint so as to get a snail’s eye view of the sky”.
The show started on 25th February and is running until 4th March. You can visit Tom Benjamin’s or the St Anne’s Gallery website for more details.
firstsite is a contemporary art gallery in Colchester. Jes Fernie, Associate Curator of the gallery recently contacted us about their current exhibition, Equivalents. The exhibition, selected by the artist Steven Claydon, contains a series of cloud studies painted by Constable during the 1820s.
Cloud Appreciation Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, will also be coming to firstsite to give a talk about clouds referring to Constable’s studies on 3 March 2012.
The exhibition runs from 4 February to 7 May at firstsite, Colchester, UK.
The heart in the sky over Saint Etienne en Devoluy, France. © Emily Morus-Jones.
“Prior to my accepting the job over here, breaking away from my old job, I was divided and in two minds as to what to do. I consulted one of my dearest friends whom I have known since we were both children and who completed a ski season last year in Meribel in the 3 Valleys. He told me that I had to go, and that I would not regret it. One week later he died under incredibly tragic circumstances, (for details please see the following link about the inquest a few days ago into his death) leaving a gap in the universe that will never again be filled and, in my opinion and that of others, leaving the world a far worse off place. As far as I was concerned I no longer had a choice, I had to go.
“Five weeks into my season, I was still in an incredibly fragile state, I still am now. However, I had been doing quite well at just getting on with it, telling myself that he’d kick my arse if he saw me moping all the time. Despite my efforts though, I did find myself being overcome with emotion from time to time. One such occasion I was sitting in one of the cafes on the slopes taking a break after boarding for 3 hours on my own. I was tired which didn’t help and I was depressed because I really just wanted one person who I could go out with and learn from. I kept on thinking about how different it would be if he was there, if he was with me. I found water to be welling up in my eyes so I looked up to the sky in the hope that if anyone saw me they would just assume that it was the sun in my eyes that was making them water. Attached you will find a photo of what I saw, I took two pictures just to make sure I wasn’t tripping or anything. Then, at the exact moment that I saw it, the music in the cafe changed to Pink Floyd, ‘Wish You Were Here’. Now I am generally quite a scientifically minded person, but that day I am convinced that he spoke to me. And even if it was all coincidence, I still found myself getting back on my board and riding like mad for the rest of the day.”
Emily’s story touched a chord with us. It made us think of the 1913 poem, ‘Clouds’, by the British war poet, Rupert Brooks:
They say that the Dead die not, but remain
Near to the rich heirs of their grief and mirth.
I think they ride the calm mid-heaven, as these,
In wise majestic melancholy train,
And watch the moon, and the still-raging seas,
And men, coming and going on the earth.
Read Emily’s blog here.
See Emily’s photograph of a heart on the society photo gallery.
Cloud Appreciation Society member, H Brown, recently sent us the link to the Met Office publication “Cloud Types for Observers”. This is an extremely good classification source and will be interesting for all cloud enthusiasts.
It can be found on the Met Office website here.
Our mugs are just back from the printers and they are great. Now you know what to drink your tea from when you are out cloudspotting in the garden.
Go to the Cloud Shop to see our Cloud Appreciation Society mugs here.
We know how all you cloudspotters out there are reluctant to do the washing up because you don’t have tea towels to be proud of. We know what problems this can cause with your friends and partners. Well now that particular impediment to family harmony is no longer. We are proud to introduce in our Cloud Shop none other than the glorious new Cloud Appreciation Society tea towels…
We’ve got a few left of society’s Cloud Calendar, 2012. So, in the long tradition of February calendar discounts, we now have them on sale at half price: just £4.99 each (+ postage/shipping).
Each month of the Cloud Calendar features a stunning cloudscape photographed by a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society, selected from the many thousands on our photo gallery. For each image, there is a brief account by the member of what inspired them take the photograph and, at the back of the calendar, a spread gives descriptions and explanations of the cloud formations featured.
You can buy the discounted calendar in our cloud shop.
Mike Sharp’s image of lightning over Penang, Malaysia is a beauty, and so receives the highest honour of cloud photographs sent in to us during the past month: it becomes February’s Cloud of The Month.
Landscape Treks are a small company who guide people to wild locations in the UK’s mountains to experience superb scenery, capture stunning images and above all, enjoy being in the great outdoors.
If you would like to join one of their treks specifically to enjoy being guided to some remote locations and enjoy some cloud watching please contact them via their website.
A Crocheted Cumulus from 'Cummulus' at the Paris experimental sci-art gallery, Le Laboratoire
Barbara Felicetti of Ardmore, PA recently drew our attention to this article on the New Scientist website by their CultureLab editor, Kate Austen who was lucky enough to visit the experimental sci-art gallery “Le Laboratoire” in Paris to view these beautiful crocheted cumulus clouds.
“Lit from within and above, the swathes of crocheted white wool hang from the ceiling to just half a metre above the ground, casting familiar shadows on the gallery floor. The fluffy cashmilon wool chosen by the artist, Argentinean architect Ciro Najle, works well for cumulus clouds – the puffy ones that can precede thunder storms, and are precursors to the godfather of clouds, the cumulonimbus” she says.
You can read the full New Scientist article here and see details of the exhibition here.
Cloud enthusiast HelmutVölter recently contacted us about an exhibition he curated for The Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland entitled “Cloud Studies – The Sicentific View of the Sky”. The exhibition is currently running until 12th February 2012.
The exhibition contains a range of original cloud photographs that have been produced and used in many different ways. There are cloud atlases (the first International Cloud Atlas from 1896), cloud photo albums, single photogrpahs, hand books, press photographs, magazines and films. The Japanese physicist, Masanae Abe observed and filmed the clouds around Mt Fuji in the 1930’s.
You can see more about the exibition here.
Ryan Verwest's image is January's Cloud of the Month
Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds over Taiwan. © Jochun Ho.
Frequent visitors to the society Cloud Gallery will be familiar with the beautiful and dramatic ‘Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds’, which look like a series of breaking waves and often appear in a line of beautiful vortices. Normally, these formations are spotted amongst mid-level or high clouds, and so are only noticed by cloudspotters who make a point of looking up. We made Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds worth 55 ‘cloud-collecting points’ in our reference book The Cloud Collector’s Handbook, in which you get point for the different clouds you spot (UK version of the book is here, US version is here). This is the highest points of all the clouds types in the book, since it is rare and fleeting formation that is easy to miss.
But not all examples of Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are this elusive. Some recently appeared in the skies over Birmingham, Alabama, US, which no one could have missed. These wave clouds were so low in the sky, and had such prominent breaking-wave shapes that they stunned locals. The dramatic waves soon flooded the media, newspapers and Internet. They became known as the ‘Alabama tsunami clouds’.
The world may have been stunned that breaking waves can appear within the clouds like this but bit members of the Cloud Appreciation Society. They have been sending in their amazing and beautiful Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud photographs for years.
We would like to wish a very Merry Christmas to all our members – both old and new. And to get you in the mood, we’ve picked out a few festive clouds that look things from the society photography gallery:
Santa Claus flying in over Texas, US, towed by his his trusty clouddeer. © Jason Tack.
italy.jpg "A Christmas tree over Mercogliano, Italy.")
A Christmas tree over Mercogliano, Italy. © Modestino Carbone.
Father Christmas having a bad-hair day over St. Ives, Cornwall, UK. © Mandy Flockton.
Cloud of the Month for December: a nice bit of Cirrus
The Cloud of the Month for December is some fancy Cirrus clouds spotted over South Carolina, US, and photographed by Betty Owen. You can see previous Clouds of The Month here. (Please bear with us when it comes to some of the older entries, as we are still updating the layouts).
The Clouds Harp Quartet
They recently completed their first UK tour to promote this, their debut CD, and will be playing at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester on the 13th and 14th December. Details can be found here.
You can also hear one of the movements from the cloud piece on their website http://www.soundcloud.com/estherswift
'Landscape with Billowing Clouds' by Thomas Kerrich
She goes on to explain that the exhibition contains “exquisite chalk sketches by Thomas Kerrich and Down [she wasn’t sure of the name of this artist] dating from before cloud classification, a notebook illustrating techniques for shading in clouds, wonderful Constables (of course) and Turner sketchbooks”. Littered throughout the exhibition are all the amazing Turner cloudscapes that The Tate possesses and, it seems, much more besides.
The exhibition is free. Here are the details and a link to the (minimal) information about it on the Tate website:
Romantics
9 August 2010 – 3 June 2012
(Free entry)
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/romantics/default.shtm
This video of the light effects was filmed over Florida, US
Different theories about the exact cause of these effects have been going around the Internet. A NASA website reports the hypothesis that these effects are when ‘a lightning discharge can cause a sundog to jump’. By ‘sundog’, they are referring to the ice-crystal optical effect also known as a ‘mock sun’ or ‘parhelium’. Here is what NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day website said:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111108.html
The same effect, witnessed over Singapore
Les took issue with the NASA website explanation, claiming that it is very unlikely these effects are caused the sort of ice crystals that produce sundogs. You just don’t tend to find the right type of ice crystal at the top of Cumulonimbus storm clouds. But if they aren’t moving sundogs, when what are they? “We do not really know what is happening,” Les admitted. “We need more hard evidence, more measurements and cloud-physics modelling before we can hope to come up with a clear explanation. At the moment, we are nowhere near that position.”
And here they are over Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
"Surely you see it, Brother? It's over there, just below the angel"
Chiara Frugoni, a cloudspotting art historian in Assisi, Italy, has discovered a cloud shaped like the face of the devil that was painted 170 years before Mantegna’s cloud look-a-like. Frugoni spotted the depiction of the horned face hidden in one of the frescos by Giotto in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Frugoni has been researching the frescos for the past 30 years, and believes that Giotto’s cloud face was painted in 1289.
In the 720 years since then, thousands upon thousands of pilgrims, tourists and scholars have gazed up and admired the paintings but it seems that no one has noticed the face until now. Though it is hidden within the Cumulus clouds near to an angel, Frugoni claims that “it is very visible” once you notice it. So why hadn’t anyone else noticed Giotto’s cloudy secret for all that time? “One sees what you already know,” said Frugoni. “I assure you that now all will see it.”
We are delighted to have heard of this momentous cloudspotting discovery (and grateful to Antonio Lazzarin of Milan, Italy for drawing our attention to it). Our only disappointment is that Chiara Frugoni didn’t reveal Giotto’s 720-year-old secret just a few weeks earlier. If we’d heard about it then, we’d have been able to mention it in the introduction of our new book before it went off to the printers. ‘Clouds That Look Like Things’ is a going to be a fantastic collection of cloud look-a-likes photographed by members of the society, which will be out in the UK in April 2012. It doesn’t contain a photograph of a cloud in the shape of a Devil’s face. But who needs the Devil, when we’ve got a pretty good likeness of Jesus?
Watch an Italian TV report of the discovery.
A detail of Giotto's fresco depicting the death of St. Francis of Assisi
And the award of 'Art Historian Cloudspotter of The Year' goes to... Chiara Frugoni.
Our new shop system should be easier to use, and paves the way to a single site-wide login for members
There is one drawback in changing over to a new system: people will have to enter their address details as a new customer the first time that they use the new shop. We hope this won’t be too much of a bore, but customers can always buy products without setting up an account. As before, the payments are all obviously handled on an independent and completely secure payment server.
Another advantage of this new shop system is to do with logging in. In the future, we want to set things up so that members can log into the website and get access to pages that normal visitors can’t see. The new shop will be integrated with this, which means that as a member you only need to log in once to access member pages and have your delivery details available in the shop. If you are a member, please tick the box to say so when you log in for the first time. If you can find your membership number you can enter this to help ensure that, when the time comes, you’ll already have a log-in for accessing member-only pages of the website.
If you are a member, please tick the box when you first log in and (if possible) give your member number
Please do tell us here whether or not you find the new shop system works OK for you. No doubt there will be a few teething issues, as there were when we changed over to the new Cloud Photo Gallery, but we hope it will make life easier in the long run.
Needless to say, our shop has all sort of fantastic society merchandise on it. We are especially proud of our cloud calendar and new greetings cards:
Fellow cloud lover, Kath Hortic has sent us the link to a recently published article on OS Maps Magazine website.
It’s a very informative and interesting piece which includes a video showing different cloud types. You can read it here.
