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2011年12月23日 星期五

Clouds Unlimited

I love clouds. I was lucky in my flight to America. I got a seat next to the emergency exit. That means whenever I found anything interesting, I could get down on my knees and take photos from the tiny window next to the exit. I didn't waste time.



Whilst from the verandah of one's house, from the foot of a mountain or from the windows of one's car, the clouds may look like cotton candy, wisps of fleece, or billows of foams, from a height of between 6000 to 9000 feet, the clouds look completely different.  Perhaps owing to the operation of the principles of gravity and the uniformity of temperature and the very high velocity winds sweeping the sky at that kind of altitude, there is a certain flatness to the topmost surface of the sea of clouds. According to one of the cloud appreciation societies, seeing different shapes and forms in clouds is officially known by the erudite sounding word  " pareidolia". Well if so, then without knowing it, I have been a pareidolian ever since the age of five.
Whatever they think, to me this one looks a bit like a whitened version of the altiplanos of South America, Pentagonia perhaps. .




The side of some arctic land mass turning into fluffy bubbles and breaking away?





This one looks as if the land has transformed itself into a mass of steamy and sticky bubbles. perhaps a horde of white monsters driven forward in droves but still reluctant to be separated from being duos and trios , rushing from the back of the photo towards its foreground.






A snow covered Grand Canyon with some clouds over one of its deep rifts?




A river meandering its way through a plain. threatened by some advancing glacier with a volcano billowing white smoke at its left?





Some rivers over a vast plain filled with Amazonian jungles with white instead of green foliage?.





A  carpet woven with thick white yarn with some worm eaten holes?





Lavas in white instead of the usual black, yellows and reds overflowing the land and pushing from photo left toward its right?.





The face of a woman with long curly hair without a nose?







Crops of the kind of craggy rocks one finds along some of the coasts of Hong Kong's outlying islands or clumps of cauliflowers?





The surface of some mashed almond porridge cooling before we spoon into it at Moon Kee or some other dessert restaurants?






Two cracks along on the top of the surface of some baked cake except for its color?





A close up of the way the pedestrian pavement may look after a frosty night? 







Lines of cotton balls along a conveyor belt being separated before being turned into yarns or cotton quilts or a snowy pedestrian pavement before the sun comes out to melt the freshly fallen snow?

 


Some arctic coastline or other? You can actually see the tiny ice crystals outside lower part of the airplane window from which this photo was taken.

If you've enjoyed looking at these cloud formations as much as I did in taking them and your imagination has been fired, then you now know that you are a "pareidolian"! 

Whether or not you are, a very Merry Christmas to you all!


9 則留言:

  1. Amazing! Thank you for the cloud journey! Merry Christmas!!
    [版主回覆12/24/2011 23:11:43]I derived tremendous enjoyment in cloud gazing. So I thought I'd share them with my blog friends. A very merry Christmas to you too!

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  2. 好美麗的雲海! 真像是冰河呢! 謝謝 El Zorro! 真沒浪費機上的時間、 也不錯過這般美景! ~~~~~~ 聖誕快樂!
    [版主回覆12/24/2011 23:13:02]Yes, you're right. They looked so different from up there and so beautiful too. A very merry Christmas to you and your hubby.

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  3. Spectacular! It's amazingly beautiful to picture the sea of clouds from the plane.
    [版主回覆12/24/2011 23:16:10]Thank you. And a merry Christmas to those near and dear to you!

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  4. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year ~~^^~~
    [版主回覆12/24/2011 23:17:16]Same to you. More calligraphy or painting or writing during this festive season?

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  5. I also had this seat position before. It's wonderful for shooting photo. I love the clouds in the sky.
    [版主回覆12/24/2011 23:18:39]Me too. For some reasons, they asked me at the last minute if I minded switching to this seat although I was originally given another seat on the internet.

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  6. You are so lucky. Usually this seat is not reserved and the staff will select one who can speak English and help to open the emergency door if needed.

    The clouds are so beautiful.

    Merry Christmas to you ...
    [版主回覆12/25/2011 02:37:02]Yes, I always feel that for some obscure reasons, the gods seem to like me a lot so that whenever I travel, things somehow work very well for me.
    Can't agree with you more. Clouds are fascinating to watch.

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  7. El Zorro,祝聖誕快樂及新年事事如意~~^^
    [版主回覆12/25/2011 02:37:17]Thank you. I wish you the very same!

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  8. tku Elzorro~ xmas!
    [版主回覆12/25/2011 02:37:43]You're welcome. Merry Christmas!

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  9. 感到人世間的渺小
    [版主回覆12/25/2011 13:20:34]The universe is vast. Human beings are truly insignificant, no matter what a lot of people think, including some of the "greatest" human beings.

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