The spectacular thunderstorm that traveled over the South West of England during the early hours of 27th May 2017 went on for hours, with near constant strobing of high cloud to cloud lightning.
Here I capture some of the sheet lightning and the sound of thunder and rain.
A time-lapse study of mist and clouds at twilight, filmed in Great Torrington, North Devon, England. The swirling mist is very eerie and allows the viewer a glimpse into another world, one which exists in a much slower time frame.
As I experiment with time lapse photography, I begin to see nature at a
different, much slower speed. Mist and clouds have a completely different life
if you slow down your perception. At 30x speed, mist and cloud move like
creatures, they swirl, grow and dart from pace to place, they move like giant
waves and seem to have their own societies and will. This is not seen at normal
speed, as they are moving too slowly. We see them as static forms, devoid of
movement, but in a time-lapse film they come to life.
I can see that my own life has a deeper flow at this and even slower
speeds. There is the industrious 30Hz Beta brainwave frequency, in which we spend
most of our waking life, and the delta frequency of around 1Hz which is present
during deep sleep. The difference in frequency is the same magnitude as the
difference between our waking perception of static clouds and the time-lapse
speed where the clouds and mist come to life.
You cannot turn a supertanker on a dime. Life is like this, we may
make changes at 'normal speed' but only see the context of our life at the
slower speed. We become impatient for change because we expect everything to
happen at the Beta frequency. Our life comes into focus in months and years and
only then does the overall pattern become apparent. For me this is the pattern
of meditation, peace and subtle communion with the elements. To be at one with
this level of being I need to slow down, moving from staccato to stillness.
On Halloween (31st October 2004) I was out for a walk with my partner on
Bodmin Moor to celebrate the pagan festival of Samhain. It was just
after 4pm, not long before sunset, when I took some pictures of Golitha
Falls, an enchanted waterfall in the wilds of haunted Cornwall. To my
amazement I had caught a water dragon and a water fairy (or water
sprite). On closer examination I had captured the apparition of a group
of faeries, or perhaps Cornish pixies. The main fairy appears to have
well defined wings and a face, with other supernatural beings dancing
around. These faerie beings appear to be nymph like, just like those
described in English folklore. All the wee folk were formed using the
water in the river and flitted in and out of existence beyond normal
perception. It was only after looking at the stills that I discovered
the presence of these magical beings. All five frames in the video were
taken within the same minute (4:12pm). To me these images are proof of
the paranormal and a hidden world beyond our perception. Take a look and
see what you think.
A cloud timelapse filmed with an Excelvan Q8 4K UHD action camera. Look out for the airplane contrail at 14 seconds, it appears at the top near the middle.
Pareidolia- A psychological phenomenon where you see familiar shapes in
random patterns, such as clouds. Also forms the basis of the Rorschach
inkblot test, which uses a random pattern to gain insight into mental
states. What do you see in these clouds? Faces, angels, letters?
