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Day 33. I only made it out to the pond after sunset today. Real soon I might have to flip the evening meal with the pictures. Day light is really getting shorter now. So tonight was all post sunset. I am not sure which I like best, isolating the sky... Or trying to get at least a little bit of a reflection... Here the cirrus behind the lower clouds turned hot red... Figured I show you the *new* billboard. Same company but a little bit different of a message...

Day 32 of the Energizer Bunny Streak that will not give up. Was a close thing though. Had a pretty thick cloud shield to the west and north. Was not sure if anything might happen. BUt as usual I was out there just in case. When I got out to the pond. I had to orient to the southwest to get anything... Tried going vertical when it started getting tinged with orange... Fortunately, right around local sunset, there was a slight tear in the cloud bank. It was crepuscular ray nirvana for a very short period of time. Here are the rays in color... And here are the crepuscular rays in black and white only a minute later...

Day 31 of The Streak. And still it continues. And what I night it was. The afternoon storms rolled through at just the right time and left the perfect environment. Starting off vertical, pre-sunset... And onto horizontal pre-sunset... Just going to make a rather long time jump break and go straight into the max color... And a little bit more of a detailed view of the right side of the previous image... Going to end the night just as I started, vertical. The extreme post sunset light had a strong violet cast to it again. Supposidly from the aerosols from the two volcanos on the other side of the Pacific. It is very noticeable...

Day 30. A solid month at the pond. And what a celebration I had. I was running everywhere, all night long. Complex to the northwest of me. Complex to the southwest of me. There I was, stuck in the middle with you. Started off looking south when I got to the pond... A nice sundog on the north side of the Sun... Once the post sunset started the edge of the southwest complex started to go orange... I glanced over my left shoulder and saw something I do not see very often. Maybe once a year if I am lucky. An anti-crepuscular ray. In other words, a cloud shadow so strong that it went all the way to the vanishing point looking to the southeast... Then I ran to the fisherman's point, to get a better angle and some more reflection on the complex to the southwest... Then it was a move back to my normal spot for the post sunset color to the west and you can still see the cloud shadow or crepuscular ray that gave me the anti one... Ended the evening with a wild color. Feathering the GND sometimes fools the color balance of the camera. On rare occasions the result is visually pleasing...

Day 29. And what a busy night it was. Had some cells roll through this evening and I went out hoping it would break in time for sunset. Started off with some crepuscular rays... Then a rainbow broke out. It never did make a complete semi-circle, so I had to image it in installments. First the xouth side of the rainbow with a bruise blue background... Then the north side of the rainbow which was vivid yellow... Then on to some post sunset color... How about post sunset color with a lightning bolt on the right side of this image... And finished the evening off with another lightning bolt, this time in the lower left...

Day 28 and still hanging on by a thread. Was almost a shut out but not quite. Good thing I did decide to go out to the pond just in case. It may have been brief but it was worth the effort. Probably the best color dynamics, and image of the night. Might as well as starting off with a bang... A little bit later there was a decidedly violet color to the light from over the horizon... And this last image is just for me. Completely incidental light and I exposed to make the sky/clouds right and had to let the billboard be way over-exposed. I do have my priorities...

Day 27 and all is well. Sooner or later this is going to implode on me. And yet it is the conditions of a changing condition that brings me the best color and clouds. Here is to having triggers near by. And what an evening it was at the pond again. What it looked like when the post sunset color machine was practicing its scales, getting ready for it's performance... The first serious color occurred just over my left shoulder. So I just swung the camera to the south and opened the lens to 16mm and it still hardly fit... Once the overhead went red I adjusted more to the southwest to get all the color at once... Here is a close-up of the stuff closest to the horizon... And as the red was departing the area. Stick a fork in it, it is done... Goodnight my darlin', wherever you are...

Day 26 and still the streak marches on. And it was one of those sunsets that I hope for each and every time I go out there. What it looked like when I got out to the pond. Nothing special here,,, After the sun actually set, the breeze started to die down so I was doing reflections shots just in case that is all I got. But if you look to the right side you can see a little red starting to creep in... Well I swung the camera more over to the north and was elated when the red really started coming on strong... Then it even moved over more to the west and mixed just right with the yellows and browns and blues and the whole mess... gorgeous.... Good night my darlin', wherever your are...

Day 25 and I am still going strong. This evening was smoke influenced. I think the smoke layer did not let the clouds radiate away once the sun set, as usual. It seemed to even trigger some more cloud formation. When I got to the pond... The clouds getting bigger... And even bigger... This last image shows the blotchiness of the smoke the best...

Day 24 of the continuing streak, just barely. Only have one image to share seeing how the cloud hung tough over me all evening. Also the last image of this page, for me at least. Yellow crepuscular rays overhead and orange crepuscular rays on the horizon...

Day 23 of the continuing streak. Did not expect much at all. Was close to calling it off but after dinner I noticed some breaks in the far north western sky and went out to the pond, just in case. Some crepuscular rays when I got out to the pond... The beginning of the yellow... The end of the yellow... The last of the color way in the distance...

Day 22 and a nice relaxing time at the pond this evening. Nothing so amazing that I got nervous about missing anything special and no time constraints so I could be there when and as long as I liked. When I got to the pond... Greatest extent of clouds and as close to local sunset as I was going to get. And that was not very close at all with the system moving in... The red flash on some local clouds to the north. Yes, I shot this very dark so as not to blow out those reds, as this camera body is prone to do... The better red flash was to the north of me. I am guessing LAF and points north probably had a jaw-dropping event. I was just a tick too south to get to play with it...

Well, I'll be... Day 21. Week 4 of the streak is about to begin. Ending of the third week was very enjoyable. Local sunset. I thought I might have been too late because of other commitments but it timed out just right. The Sun is in the tree in the center of the image but trust me there is about three to five pixels, that I can see real easy at 100%. I was happy just to have some clouds to shoot... Post sunset I started to get a rather broad cloud shadow. I thought if this is the best my night will be OK... But it was even going to get better. I am going to share two more images. They were taken one after the other. It was really getting to be close to jaw-dropping. The red searchlight was the cherry on top of the sundae... This last image was taken within 5 to 10 seconds after the above image. Just enough to let the lights on the billboard get powered up to full power. This way you can pick or choose which you like best. With the billboard lit, or without the billboard illuminated... Looking at the satellite when I got home, I see what looked like an alley formed in north central Iowa. That would coincide with what I was seeing. What a gorgeous sunset. Good night my darlin', wherever you are...

On and on it goes. Day 20 and counting. Looking northeast when I got out to the pond. Almost looks like a fall-streak cloud... Once the Sun Set I could see just a couple clouds, wayyyyyyy off in the western distance... The red flash was kind of different this evening. The red was contained from due west and from south of there. Nothing up north. Looking at the satellite when I got home I see the convection in South Dakota and Minnesota turned the light off north while south of there was still open. Hence this...

On and on the streak goes. Day 19 at the pond. The storms rolled through early enough that I was able to make it out there with no problem. Looking northeast when I got out to the pond. I like that I got lucky and caught the strobe on the radio tower going off... I thought there were no clouds out west till the Sun sunk beneath the horizon. Then I was able to see these little suckers... Extreme late color...

The streak continues once again. Day 18. Who needs sleep? When I got to the pond and looked east. The firehouse and a cloud... There was only one cloud to the west also. Although it was more overhead than west... Once the Sun dipped below the horizon, all the clouds evaporated with the loss of Daytime heating, so I was just trying to get the color right from then on. Just a tad bit of the violet color here... Glad I stayed for every micron of color. Here you can see I had a rather strong cloud shadow real late. I am not sure if it is from a string of clouds in western Illinois or northwest Iowa. I am thinking the Illinois string. Almost looks like the billboard is causing the shadow but it had nothing to do with it...

Day 17 of the streak. While it was nothing to write home about, it was another evening at the pond and that is a good thing. Looking south at the cells over Bloomington, IN. when I got to the pond... The view to the west was cloudless so it was all about the color post sunset...

Day 16 of the streak continued this evening at the pond. The neat thing about this evening was the combo of clouds. To the east was the cumulus. To the west was the cirrus, both low and high altitude. Made for another fun night behind the viewfinder. When I got to the pond. THe view to the east and the cumulus... Now on to the west and all the cirrus. Starting off with local sunset... Max orange... Max red though it was a weak looking red... And finishing up with the last dregs...

Day 15 of the streak continues. The big question of the night was, a. Does the smoke conditions cause the clouds? Or b. Does the cloud conditions cause the smoke to be visible? Whatever the case, sparce conditions at the pond this evening. A little of that violet color with some extremely diffuse cloud shadows... This is the end...

My favorite time of the year. Tonight was my 14th day in a row being at the pond taking sunset shots. I might be a little sleep deprived but my joy factor with life has gotten beyond the sated phase. Got to enjoy this while it lasts before those 100% stratus days start up again. It was another night with perfect placement of clouds for optimal viewing. Oh, and it took so long to go through, chose and edit all the images of the evening that it is tomorrow already. So these are from the evening of Aug. third if you are looking at them sometime in the future. Started off with what it looked like when I got to the pond. There was a little sun dog on the left side of the Sun... A little more of a broad view pre-sunset... Post sunset and the way the *white* clouds kind of made semi-circles, intrigued me... The greatest extent of the red flash... Some of that violet color that I think is smoke induced. Oh and the moon also... Not sure if I should share this one but I think I shall. This is all about the white clouds at the top and middle of the image. While they might not be noctilucent clouds they have to be close cousins. The clouds have to pretty high up to still be white when I am so far past sunset. Matter of fact it was 43 minutes past local sunset to this image. Also the incidental light on that cloud to the right looks pretty wild. So this image has a few things that I like...

Looking at the satellite after I got home I confirmed what I thought out at the pond earlier. I was right on the edge of the clouds. Had clouds to the north and west. But the east and south were barren. Gave me some nice cirrus to image. Local sunset and the yellows... Post sunset and the orange... The red flash was rather rapid and a little diffuse... And way past time I should have headed home. I really like the young moon in the upper left. Just gives the image a little lift...

Not much to the sunset this evening. I still put in an appearance at the pond though. Post sunset there was this thin, little cloud that looked like it formed on a smoke boundary... Also had some diffuse and faint cloud shadows going on for another short period of time. I am not sure if the shadows were from the front edge in Iowa or the top of the cells in South Dakota. I am going to guess South Dakota, but what do I know... Tried shooting it this way so see if it was *easier* to see. You be the judge...

Was another *fun* evening out at the pond. Started off close to local sunset. A nice combo of clouds... Did not look like there was going to be much color post sunset so I was messing around trying to get a decent reflection image... Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, some decent red seemed to pop up out of no where. Looking back a the visual satellite I now see the reason it happened. The clouds over southern Iowa were moving towards Missouri. When they got far enough south it suddenly let the red through as the Sun made its way around the bend under the horizon... Here I tried to make the image as symmetrical as possible...

Thank you Lake Michigan for the lake boundary clouds this evening. I know usually I curse you for the 100% stratus days but today I needed your influence to have some clouds to shoot at sunset. Close to sunset... Clouds off to the south with some nice color... Sort of early post sunset... Really late post sunset...

Kind of a different night at the pond. The rain of the afternoon had passed on to the east but the low level moisture was hanging tough. Made for some waiting but also some nice images. When I first got to the pond there was some nice sun dogs with that perfectly placed cloud... Looking to the north with the high white cirrus and the yellow low level clouds... And now looking east at the same conditions as above... Then there was a break as a solid layer of clouds ran overhead. It was one hour between the above image and this one... Of course, losing the daytime heating the clouds melted away as the light died with them...