Category: Wildlife

Betelgeuse, AKA “Alpha Orionis”, was the first star disk, other than our Sun, measured. One hundred years ago the apparent size of Betelgeuse was then as now 0.003% of the sun. I bring this up because this “red” star at the end of its life cycle, is in the news, being now 40% of its brightness last year.

Betelgeuse is so far away this dimming is 700 year old news, the time it takes for light span the distance. News of our sun is more recent, sunlight informs us of the Sun’s surface from 8.33 minutes ago. Sunlight bursts from clouds to the camera in an instant of a second. In comparison my reactions to capture it are glacial. Sixteen seconds passed since the images of Series 6, time for three exposures at a slowed pace now the sun breaks free from the clouds.

Twelve minutes, fifty four seconds elapsed from the first images of this series. Seventy nine exposures taken with 16 selected moments, these last without the sand mirror.

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A Willet feeds in the new day. This is a species sandpipers, a cousin of the Sanderling of yesterday’s post.

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All sixteen Sunrise Texture moments are presented below.. Suggestion, for this series in a larger format, open a separate browser tab for each post. At series end you will then have eight (including the very first post a few weeks ago) landscapes to compare.

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Want to see more? Visit this series on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Two minutes pass from Series 5, and not because I have stopped snapping. My routine is to insert a (automated) sequential number into each filename. Using this it is possible to calculate the number of exposures in a series. Since Series 5, 16 were snapped before the first I could use in Series 6. Ten exposures between the first and last of Series 6, during which a minute, twenty eight seconds elapsed..

The sun disk is above the horizon, bursting from clouds.

Ten minutes, eighteen seconds elapsed from the first images of this series. Seventy one exposures taken with 14 selected moments of shining sand mirror, a strong curving return flow.

The small bird feeding, of the first image, is a Sanderling, one of the smallest species of Sandpipers.

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In this second image, the mirror is erased as sand absorbs surf. I needed to show the developing sun burst.

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A slide show of these images. This set compares short exposure with open aperture (f 4.5) to a much longer exposure driven by a narrow aperture (f 22) and the lowest film sensitivity of the camera (ISO 50). Suggestion, for this series in a larger format, open a separate browser tab for each post. At series end you will then have eight (including the very first post a few weeks ago) landscapes to compare.

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Want to see more? Visit this series on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

A scant five seconds pass from Series 4, with the sun above the horizon I strive to catch the moment.

The sun disk is above the horizon, shining behind the clouds.

Seven minutes, 34 seconds elapsed from the first images of this series.

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I selected moments of shining sand mirror, a strong curving return flow with a continuing mark of a southeast wind of seventeen miles per hour, with bursts above twenty. Wind, waves, even the rounded particles of sand all created from the energy of the celestial body I am waiting to appear.

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A slide show of these images. Suggestion, for this series in a larger format, open a separate browser tab for each post. At series end you will then have eight (including the very first post a few weeks ago) landscapes to compare.

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Want to see more? Visit this series on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Thirty three seconds pass from Series 3, the high clouds shine less bright, the sun disk now blocked by those clouds on the horizon, the rising sun brings darkness yet a first hint of sunburst.

Seemingly, the first image foam-wave swath will erase the mirror.

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Fifty seconds later, instead of erasure the new water brings clarity.

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Six minutes, 39 seconds elapsed from the first images of this series.

A slide show of these images. Suggestion, for this series in a larger format, open a separate browser tab for each post. At series end you will then have eight (including the very first post a few weeks ago) landscapes to compare.

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Want to see more? Visit this series on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

You will notice the sky changing, compared to the first set published here , Almost 6 minutes have passed, 4 minutes from the last image from Sunrise Texture Series 2. From behind the horizon, the first rays of sunlight catch the sky undersides. Unseen. the sun disk broaches the horizon.

Working fast, I used the dial to change from aperture-priority to shutter-priority with settings saved from the last use. In this way the duration is only twelve seconds between shots. The sun disk is near to/passed the horizon hidden behind those distant clouds.

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Breaking of a small wave.

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A slide show of these images. Suggestion, for this series in a larger format, open a separate browser tab for each post. At series end you will then have eight (including the very first post a few weeks ago) landscapes to compare.

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Want to see more? Visit this series on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Twelve minutes, fifty four seconds separate the first and list images of this series of 16 images, starting with the first set published here fourteen days ago.

Almost a minute, fifty two seconds, separates the images of this post, enough time for a wave to sweep over a boss of sand, forming a mirror, and to start a return flow to the sea.

Happy turning of February to March.

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A sand boss held water briefly each cycle to form a mirror.

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A slide show of these images.

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Want to see more? Visit this series on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Heraclitus, sometime between his beginning and end, 535 – 475 B.C., wrote “No man steps into the same river twice.” The flow of these images is more changeable, ebbing and flowing with each wave.

My habit is to time early morning walks by sunrise, stepping onto the beach well before dawn to enjoy the encounter. First days of January 2020 were notably clear and warm. Then over several days the wind rose, on the 9th were these clouds,

High tide passed a few minutes before, for whatever reason there were hollows filled with the stronger waves, the water pooling to flow back as is seen here. The pattern of sand hollows across the beach was lost across the hours and tides, not to return during our time at the beach.

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A sand boss held water briefly each cycle to form a mirror.

A sand boss held water briefly each cycle to form a mirror. In the small ripples in the return stream rising against the waves of the return flow can be seen the strong, steady southeast wind of that day.

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A slide show of these images. Use is to compare the effect of longer vs shorter exposure time and f-stop.

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Want to see more? Visit this series on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills