Skywatch Friday – Loving the Cloudy Skies and Rain

We’ve had lots of rain and cloudy skies lately. Kind of hard on the hiking but great for growing stuff and taking skywatch photos. I launched the drone from the backyard for the above photo. The controller was squawking at me about the high winds and dark skies but I sent it straight up over the back patio and straight back down. This is the view to the northwest of our backyard.

Wednesday I went back to Philbrook Museum for the first time since they shutdown last year. I really missed hanging out in their gardens. I took this photo with my cell phone. Everything looks scrunched up.

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For contrast I took a similar photo with my Nikon. It’s more realistic looking with more depth in the photo. Cell phone cameras in my experience do a lot of flattening the perspective.

Crow Creek Reflections

Crow Creek winds through the gardens of Philbrook on its way to the Arkansas River. I loved this tree reflection in the creek.

Rock Poetry

Out behind the Timpietto they had a poetry rock garden so I gathered up a few and made me some rock poetry. The Philbrook gardens is my happy place. I’ve spent hours there over the years and taken hundreds of photos and always find something new to see.

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Meanwhile, back at the house. I think rainy overcast days are my favorite for breaking out the macro lens and taking photos of flowers. These are some of Heather’s zinnias that she planted last week.

21 thoughts on “Skywatch Friday – Loving the Cloudy Skies and Rain

  1. DeniseinVA

    Fantastic sky photos Yogi. Your drone shots are impressive. We’ve been seriously toying with the idea of getting one for our next trip. The Philbrook is an amazing looking museum, I would love to take a walk around there, and the gardens. I can see why you like that reflection shot, and your macro of Heather’s zinneas is a smile bringer as is the rock garden earlier.

  2. Bill Nicholls

    Beautiful place to be, love the poetry garden I would like to come across something like that myself, Yo are not alone in having lots of rain, our lawn is very soft. I love my iPhone for taking photos thoughg I still use my Canon as well

  3. Junie-Jesh

    Beautiful captures, Alan! Love the fiery sunset, and the reflections are wonderful. Noticed you are making more use lately of digital work (Photoshop?).
    Thank you so much for your last week’s comment about my restored painting (glad you liked it!)- that was the actual reason in the beginning for blogging – and to have some record of family things.

  4. Carol

    ah here are the beautiful photos of the garden you shared on Instagram – gorgeous! Send some of your rain down here to Florida. We’re still in the dry season and I fear we’ll have fires soon if rainy season doesn’t start now.

  5. Peter B.

    Some outstanding photos here, Alan. I really like the first shot from the drone. I love that high perspective, and beautiful colors. Glad to hear the Philbrook Museum is open. It looks beautiful, and I actually like the phone capture.

  6. Nancy Chan

    That was a great photo taken by your drone. The museum has a beautiful garden. I would enjoy taking a stroll in that garden. Have a great weekend.

  7. Alana

    I enjoyed the contrast of cell phone vs. Nikon. It was interesting, given that all my photography since 2012 has been using iPhones. For the mansion, I liked the cell phone capture better; to me it was like a painting. For the water, definitely the Nikon gave a superior result.

  8. Angie

    Alan – love that first photo. It is interesting to see this vantage point of your neighborhood with a few city lights in the distance. It’s a coincidence that you took photos with your Nikon and your phone and compared them. I did the same on a hike this week, and I felt the phone resulted in better quality. But it could be the camera operator at fault. I feel like I want to take a photography class with my old camera and see what it can really do. Enjoy your weekend!

  9. JM Illinois U.S.A.

    Greetings and Salutations! I enjoyed the cyber tour of Philbrook Museum Gardens. So lovely! I am glad you finally got to go back and visit. I have enjoyed the Botanic Gardens in Glencoe nearby. However, I think it is closed right now. Should check and see. It would be a wonderful place to visit for early morning walks. Probably safer than most places. Take care. Have a wonderful week end.

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