SkyView Scene Gallery

Length: 84 minutes

Three distinct layers of cloud activity are present throughout. Because of parallax, the vastly different apparent speed and direction of movements produce a dramatic 3D visualization of discreet cloud layers.
High altitude cloud patterns reabsorb into hazy blue sky, humidity drops, the sky becomes deep blue and then, increasing moisture reforms into dramatic cirrus – all the time moving according to a constant-direction jet stream. As afternoon temperatures and humidity change, mid-level clouds form and dissolve while wind direction changes.
Similarly, low-level clouds go through repeated cycles of formation and dissolution while moving at right angles to other cloud layers. Bird-flight and contrails add linear vectors to otherwise swirling dynamic activity

Length: 105 minutes

Blue sky alternates with high and low afternoon cloud formations. Quaking aspens, just below timberline (8500 feet), are, except for occasional moments of stillness, in constant motion from changing winds.
Periods of bird activity include a nectar-seeking hummingbird. Remarkable displays of pattern in which trees and clouds harmonize and present nearly identical forms and fractal boundaries.
Unseen clouds create dramatic light shifts that transform brilliantly lit trees into deeply shadowed silhouettes, contrasting with intense white passing clouds.

Length: 93 minutes

This is the day when a quiet autumn suddenly shifts to winter. Overcast sky gives way to open blue under the influence of increasing cold wind.
Strong gusty winds deliver a variety of dramatic, rapidly changing cloud patterns and formations. Leaves are stripped from nearby oaks and from the visible gingko which loses most of its leaves in the course of the afternoon.

Length: 102 minutes

High-humidity, high clouds and early morning diaphanous low clouds. As high clouds move and dissipate, a third cloud layer appears.
Lower clouds develop rapidly and reflect the last of the warm sunrise light and color. Multiple layers of clouds growing and moving in widely different directions reveal early morning activity from rising temperatures.
A typical summer morning pattern of increasingly large low clouds floating in a clear but high humidity blue is established. The changing pattern of interstitial blue alternates with deeply shadowed volumetric clouds illuminated by the low sun.
As the morning progresses, moments of open clear blue alternate with ever growing masses of cloud. Contrails periodically define the high cloud activity and birds frequent the low overhead space.
By the end, an increasing cloud buildup suggests the likelihood of afternoon thundershowers.

Length: 94 minutes
Fast-moving clouds and brilliant sunlight alternately silhouette and illuminate yellow gingko. A colorful sunset illuminates the underside of changing clouds mixing grays, pinks and blues.
A squirrel makes its appearance, jumping from pine to oak. Dusk occurs with a clear blue sky seen through silhouetted trees.

Length: 73 minutes

High altitude clouds quickly dissolve into a pure blue sky. Low clouds begin to emerge and establish increasingly strong fractal patterns.
High altitude cirrus reappears. Different wind vectors and parallax separate movement of the two levels. Low clouds form and verge on becoming fully overcast, and then reopen with new pattern structures.
Wind stretches and elongates the clouds, restoring earlier patterns as clouds dissolve leaving only fragments reminiscent of the beginning of the sequence. All clouds dissolve leaving clear blue. High and low level humidity modify sky clarity and re-begin the cycle of high and low cloud formation.

Length: 78 minutes

Gentle breezes, deep blue sky, a constant display of light clouds and occasional birds add up to a typical Medicine Bow, mountain afternoon. The vertical, slightly overhung cliff face provides a stable surface for the display of changing light and shadow patterns of unseen pines.
High and low clouds appear throughout, moving in different directions according to their different winds. Silhouetted and highly lit pines display patterns that are mimicked by periods of passing clouds.

Length: 60 minutes
High clouds are in cool shadow while low clouds are lit from beneath by the warm light of the setting sun. Internal shadows of low clouds display a wide range of subtle colors and grays.
As low afternoon clouds disappear, multiple levels are revealed by the changing angle and color of the setting sun. Illumination and color shifts from low pink clouds to high pink clouds with low clouds becoming deeply shadowed.
Then, as clouds on the Western horizon dissolve, sunlight again reaches the low clouds overhead and there is a ‘second sunset’. Finally, all warm light leaves low and high clouds and the atmosphere overhead is in the earth’s shadow.
Clouds become indistinguishable from the night sky and dissolve as night falls.

Length: 189 minutes
Intense pink blossoming Hawthorne trees are in continual wind-blown movement as the cumulus clouds float overhead in a spring-blue sky. The Hawthorne trees come in and out of dramatic shadow as passing clouds cover the sun.
About an hour into this sequence, the cumulus clouds go through a brief period of rapid internally-uniform expansion that increases their size while simultaneously preserving the details of their form. As late afternoon progresses, a period of mostly blue sky is followed by distinctly different cloud patterns.
As the sun sets, the blossoming Hawthorne is lit by intense filtered red light and then the clouds. Finally the last clouds of the day dissolve into the deepening dusky blue night sky and, with the disappearance of wind, night is framed by absolutely still Hawthorne silhouettes.

Length: 69 minutes

At about 7,000 feet of elevation, the sky and morning clouds are seen through an opening in the subalpine fir forest. Here the sky is at its bluest, the sunshine is clear and both contrast with the pure white morning clouds.
Because one is close to the clouds, the details of their motion becomes evident – and fast. This is especially the case since the clouds are not only moving in the direction of the prevailing winds but also being formed directly overhead by eddy currents that reflect the topography of the mountain – jutting up into the sky to disrupt the smooth flow of air like a submerged rock in a river.
This contributes to the dynamism of the clouds and their unusual character; shapes that change quickly as the formative process expands their mass at every point simultaneously.Even though moving in the low level winds, the firs create a stable pattern which contrasts with the rapid changes above.
Sometimes, the trees are in deep shadow as unseen clouds cover the sun. On other occasions, the overhead patches of blue sky take on the same shapes and patterns as the trees – as if the tree-forms were projected upwards.
In these moments there is a literal display of the harmony that exists among all the patterns of nature’s workings.