It’s another very cold and windy day, and I’m still thinking back on warmer ones during my travels. In April 1999 I found myself in the hills near Naves, in the Corrèze Departement of the Limousin District of France, when thunderstorms were passing through. As I crested a hill and looked across a valley, there was a break between squalls of rain and a brief opening in the clouds let a shaft of sunlight through. A distant double rainbow suddenly appeared and I tried to catch it, but it faded rapidly, and the detail in my first photo is poor. One end of the inner, darker one lingered on for a bit, but the light was very low and I knew I’d need my tripod and the long end of my tele-zoom to get any detail in the landscape. By the time I was ready, I was able to make only two or three frames before it disappeared completely.
This is not at all a high-resolution image. The film, I believe, was Fuji Provia, the camera a Pentax PZ-1, and the lens a Pentax 100-300 at its longest focal length. I made a duplicate of the original slide many years ago by re-photographing it on a light table, and I didn’t turn up the camera’s sensitivity as high as I should have. Still, there’s nothing like a rainbow to warm up a cold day. By the way, part of my inspiration to post this photo comes from a post last November by my friend the FATman (here). Sorry it took so long for me to follow through on this, A! When I can re-discover the original, I’ll scan it electronically and do it more justice.
-
Recent Posts
Subject Tags
- Abstract
- Action
- Animals
- Archives
- Argentina
- Australia
- Autumn
- Awards
- Birds
- California
- Cats
- Clouds
- Derelicts
- Dogs
- Family
- Filters
- Finland
- Fishing
- Flora
- Flowers
- Food
- Fostering
- France
- Friends
- Frost
- Fun
- Fungi
- Germany
- Harvestmen
- HDR
- Hiking
- Ice
- Insects
- Iowa
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Lakes
- Lichens
- Macro
- Mexico
- Minnesota
- Monochrome
- Music
- Nebraska
- New Zealand
- Night
- Omaha
- Pets
- Photo Philosophy
- Portraits
- Rainbows
- Rehabilitation
- Restoration
- Rivers
- ScotchChrome 1000
- Sky
- Snow
- Spain
- Spiders
- Spring
- Streams
- Street Portraits
- Street Shots
- Summer
- Sunrise
- Sunset
- Taiwan
- Travels
- Trees
- Turkeys
- Underwater
- Waterfalls
- Wildlife
- Winter
Categories
- A Fondness for Ferns
- A Fondness for Fungi
- A Liking for Lichens
- A Penchant for Pareidolia (About Face)
- Abstract
- Archives
- Family
- Family Flashbacks
- Family Friday
- Fishing
- Flashback Friday
- Fleeting Beauty
- Isolation Antidotes
- Melancholy Monday
- Menagerie Monday
- Music
- Nebulous Notables
- Night Photography
- Photography
- Places Remembered
- Poetry
- Point & Shoot
- Portraits
- Portraits of Pets Past
- Recipes
- Rehabilitation
- Saturday Sequel
- Serenity Sunday
- Silly Saturday
- SpringScapes
- Thoughtful Thursday
- Travels
- Tweaking Tuesday
- Uncategorized
- Warm Winter Wishes
- Webnesday
- Wildlife
Meta
krikitarts 
Your photo is a good reminder that photography is more about artistry than it is about megapixels. Despite your comments about the lack of resolution and the inadequate scanning, the beauty of the moment shines through.
A wonderful compliment, Mike, and I appreciate it very much. You’ve helped to warm my day even more. We have 2F outside, but the wind is driving the chill down to -24. Maybe I’ll leave the diving for the original slide for some other dark, stormy night…
We’re at 23 degrees now but are slated to be down to 5 degrees by 7:00 a.m. Stay warm!
Hi Gary! Well, this might not be reproduced digitally as well as it might have been, but it looks very good to me – I agree entirely with Mike’s comments. At the size its reproduced here, at least, it looks absolutely great – I could easily have this on my living room wall!
I love the colours of the sky, the rainbow’s diffuseness, and also the diffused, painterly quality of the landscape – a beautiful picture!
And if I’ve inspired you, I’m glad! >>> and thanks for the link to my blog! Adrian :)
You are so welcome, Adrian. But the plot thickens. The archive bug had bitten me, and I tried to resist, but eventually I spent around a quarter of an hour locating the original slide, and I’m happy to report that I was successful. It was indeed Fuji Provia (ISO 400). I also found the shot of the double bow, and I re-scanned them both. I actually prefer the lower-res version that I posted here, but the other (the double) is considerably improved in its new iteration. I’ll work on it and post it tomorrow. I promised the Meanderer something for today…
Wow, splendid, Gary! That was some fast work! :-) Nice capture.
I find it so exciting when I have to work at top speed to try to capture a fleeting instant, and it’s so rewarding when it’s successful! I can recall a (small) number of such experiences and, come to think of it, they could provide an interesting new theme…
There’s a magical look to it, and it feels so soft and cosy to match the warm colours :-)
It really was an unexpected bit of magic when I decided to climb the path in the resuming rain and find that reward for my efforts. I’m sure that my photo angel Frances had a hand in it and gave me the prod to just do it. Thank you for letting me know that you’re warmed by it, too. I understand things have been rainy and relatively warm over there, but then, you don’t usually get many impressive winter days, do you?
Nope, here in Brittany, snow is a miracle that last at most 3 days, if we ever get it. What we get are grey skies and humidity that adds the wind chill. It can get windy here, being just 50 miles south of the English Channel. In return, storm clouds and the low angle sun create the most spectacular display of light and colour.
It looks beautiful and magical, Gary.
Fleeting beauty. I think it takes us a little while to register that a rainbow is there – I think we become a little mesmerised for more seconds than we realise. THEN we think about taking a photo – by which time the sharpness is beginning to fade but maybe that’s when it is most beautiful.
Oh, you are so right, M! I can distinctly remember standing in awe of a rainbow that has suddenly appeared (probably with my mouth somewhat agape) and having my photo-penny drop far too late to catch it at its best. I’m so happy when I’m really ready for one when it’s at its peak! BTW, I’m planning a new category for transient opportunities; I’ve been considering calling it “Think Fast!” but I like your idea of “Fleeting Beauty” even better. Do you mind if I adopt that?
No – I don’t mind at all! I look forward to seeing what you post with that category!
Gorgeous!
Thanks so much, and thanks for following! I followed you back and looked at one of the 3 posts that came up on the “recommended” list, when you got your new Samsung camera back in May (or was it July?). Thinking (erroneously) that this was a recent post, I made an offer of a couple of suggestions for improvement. That may have been premature and may have seemed presumptuous, and I’m sorry. Anyway, nice to meet you!