What in the world are these?

The beautiful architecture of Ukraine

There’s more to Ukrainian tradition than the Holodomor, Stepan Bandera and its tragic, bloody history.  Here are some pictures taken in Ukraine before the Russian invasion that helped me appreciate that country’s architectural traditions.  A culture that can create such beauty is worth preserving and defending.

Independence Square in Kiev. Source.

A view of Kiev. Source.

Church of St. Nicholas on the Water, Kiev.  Source.

Winners of the 2021 nature photo awards

My friend Hal Bauer called my attention to the winners of the 2021 World Nature Photography Awards.  Here’s a partial selection.

In nature, there is no justice or mercy, but there is beauty and awesomeness.

Grand Prize Winner, Behavior of Mammals by Amos Nachoum, USA.

Gold Prize Winner, Invertebrate Behavior by Chin Leong Teo, Singapore.

Gold Prize Winner, Animals in Their Habitat by Thomas Vijayan, Canada.

Gold Prize Winner, Plants and Fungi by Gautam Kamat Bambolkar, India.

Gold Prize Winner, Urban Wildlife by Matthjis Noome, USA.

Gold Prize Winner, Planet Earth’s Landscapes and Environment by Sam Wilson, Australia.

You can click to enlarge all these photographs.

LINKS

Our 2021 Winners on the World Nature Photography Awards web site.  This archives all the gold, silver and bronze winners for 2021 and the back stories of the 13 gold winners.  The alternate links are on two web sites that are of interest to anyone who is interested in good photographs.

The Winners of the 2021 World Nature Photography Awards by Jason Kottke for kottke.org..

20 Mesmerizing Nature Photos That Won the 2021 World Nature Photography Awards on deMilked.

Eyes on the prize

The [red-tailed] hawk is hunting, floating on the wind searching for small prey, its head perfectly still while its body stabilizes around it.  I could watch this clip on repeat for the rest of the day…so cool!

This is not just a thing that hawks do — see also This Owl Will Not Move His Head and The Eerie Stillness of Chicken Heads.  Birds: nature’s steadycams.

Source: Jason Kottke on kottke.org.

Sheep herding viewed from above

I admire the professionalism of these hard-working sheep dogs.

Animals that look like animated cartoons

Time for something a little lighter.

These are the four finalists for the 2020 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

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A high-resolution look at Mars

This panorama was created by combining hundreds of still photographs.  For details, click on Gorgeous 4K Video of Mars by Jason Kottke for kottke.org.

The coming of spring

The unearthly landscape of Iceland

I found this video by Vadim Sherbakov on the Colossal web site, via kottke.org.

Storm clouds

These time-lapse photos were taken by Mike Olbinski.  Hat tip to kottke.org.  Best viewed on full screen.

Light shining through hummingbird wings

Photographer Christian Spencer shot these pictures of jacobin hummingbirds from his verandah in Rio de Janeiro.  The translucent wings act as a kind of prism that turns each bird into a tiny rainbow.

Outdoor cat ladders in Switzerland

The Swiss have a nice custom—ladders to allow cats to enter and exit from upper story apartments and rooms.  These photos are from a book, Swiss Cat Ladders, by Brigitte Schuster, focusing on outdoor cat stairways in the city of Berne.  To look at more photos, click on the links.

LINKS

Cat ladders: a creative solution for felines in flats in The Guardian.

Quirky Photos Showcase the Ingenuity of Cat Ladders in Switzerland on My Modern Met.

How advertisers make food look appetizing

Migratory birds hitch rides on merchant ships

The awesome beauty of a lightning storm

Click to enlarge

Gabriel Zaparolli took this striking long-exposure photo of a lightning storm over the outskirts of Torres, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, during the evening of June 10, 2018.   I found it on the kottke.org web log.

A brave little kidney bean becomes a plant

I found this video on the kottke.org blog.  It is a time-lapse photo of a kidney bean sprouting into a plant, shot at the rate of one shot every 9 minutes 36 seconds and played at the rate of 30 frames per second.

The little bean seems strangely gallant to me.  It makes me feel proud to be a carbon-based life form.

Cute harvest mice among the tulips

These cute pictures were taken by a British animal photographer named Miles Herbert.  Looking at them made me smile.  He does business as Captivelight. His other specialties are frogs, reptiles and birds of prey.

 I found this set of photos on the Bored Panda web site, which posted a gallery of 20 of Herbert’s mouse-and-tulip photos in all.

30 days of a cargo ship at sea

I found this on the deMilked web site.   It consists of time-lapse photos of the travels of a cargo ship from the Gulf of Aden to Hong Kong, with stops along the way.

Winter in Japan

In pursuit of American stormscapes

These amazing time-lapse videos were created last spring by Mike Olbinski, who chases storms each spring on the Great Plains, and has a second job as a wedding photographer in Phoenix. Arizona.   I came across his work on a National Geographic web site.

Fall foliage in New York’s Central Park

These time-lapse photos were taken by Jamie Scott. over a period of six months in Central Park in New York City.  He visited 15 locations, two days a week, just after sunrise, from August, 2011, through January, 2012.   The music is by Lower Dens.  I found this video on the Colossal website.

Wit and wisdom on church signs

These photos of church signs were collected on the Bored Panda website.

A cloud inversion in the Grand Canyon

On rare days, cold air is trapped in the Grand Canyon under a layer of warm air which, in combination with moisture and condensation, create what’s called a full cloud inversion, which resembles something in between ocean waves and fast-moving clouds.   Beautiful!

Click on Colossal for still photos and background information.

Flowers that bloom in the spring

These time-lapse photos were taken by Jamie Scott over a period of three years.  The background music is an original composition by Jim Perkins.   I found this video on the Colossal and kottke.org web sites.

The strange beauty of the Martian landscape

Hat tip to kottke.org.

Click on this and this for more by photographer Jan Fröjdman.