baby elephant cloud..
Standing out on the top-end floodplains in December….The heat and humidity is to be felt to be believed…1000 sorts of insects,ants and things (no crocs here at this stage/yet) that just want your blood !
It’s something I do every year, as these fiery majestic updraughts race up through the atmosphere with so much energy and vigour it is like watching timelapse footage… This one here is topping an amazing 60,000ft ! (average airliners fly at 32-36,000ft !). It unloads a deluge over no-mans land and temporarily cools the place off for a couple of hours ans dies almost as quickly as it exploded into life.
Beyond in the distance some ‘yellower’ clouds can be made out…they are more 55k ft monsters (storms) firing over the Coburg Peninsula. In the foreground there is a quaint grey bit of cumulus that my imagination twists into the shape of a baby elephant.
‘60,000ft storm’– 5 image stitch, Canon EOS 5D mkII.
Tony Middleton - Inspired Landscape Photography 
Impressive! We get some interesting thunderstorms in the summer here but not this cool. And scene like this would have about 20 sets of power lines running across it; a nice empty field is almost impossible to find 😦
Incredible cloudscape, that is just truly impressive! It’s an awesome experience witnessing the storms and feeling the humidity!
Ahh, reminds me of my trip to Darwin back in 06! I remember driving through Kakadu witnessing massive clouds and storms like this (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmphoto/245018695/)… Keep ’em coming tony! Loving the photos you’ve been posting lately…
🙂
Love it Tony.
Cody – cheers mate and yes you are right Germany does get some interesting storms from time to time..I have seen pics of large hail,nice structure and lightning.
Flemming – Thanks buddy ! It certainly is…though most often the storms are very over rated in terms of lightning and their severity….but awesome updraughts and top heights !
Beau – nice image there…looks a bit later in the season for that floodplain than mine…when in ’06 was your trip ?
Michael – cheers !
yeah very spectacular shot Tony.
don’t really get clouds like that here in Perth that’s for sure.
and as i am not at all a fan of humidity, i doubt i’ll get north at the right time to see them.
think i’ll just enjoy seeing your images! 🙂
Great shot mate the cloud look very spectacular .
looks like you have been busy durring the christmas breack . Would love to see the full version of your new header image
Freaky,
love the dark edges to some of the smaller clouds.
Such power, fortunately it has been a benign summer thus far is south east Aus. Thats where I’d love a 617 digital camera for lightning shots up north.
Great shot Tony, makes me want to head up to Kakadu for the long weekend, as we are getting not rain at all, just a lot of low level clouds like this, so the real wet hasn’t even started yet. I also added my header image to RB for you. As for the 60k clouds, coming back from Perth last year the airliner capt came on the speaker as we were descending into Darwin and told us that we will be doing some cloud dodging, that was fun. They were massive in height. Casey.
Stephen – thanks mate…I’ll have to keep posting then huh ! 🙂
Kirk – cheers mate…I have been very busy – working unfortunately…hence delayed posts. Oh and the header image is shot from my bedroom balcony – its an awesome view with the morning and evening light plays on the gully and hills. It makes a great mix with the oceans ones to the other side and reminds me of rural living.
Tom – yeah it’s been a cool boring summer thus far… *yawn*
Casey – thanks, yeah all the rain is in the Gulf Savannah and FNQ thus far…It’s definitely not in Vic ! haha
Mate those clouds look amazing….. well done
I was there in early April, i think. Maybe it was March… not too sure.
Clint – cheers mate ! I think the larger it is viewed the more impact the actual size of them has.
Beau – that certainly adds up with the length of the spear grass there, thanks for the feedback !
Such a dramatic cloudscape. You’ve captured it well. Amazing image!