Bill Murray's Blog, page 116
March 20, 2015
Svalbard Total Solar Eclipse, 20 March, 2015
Quick, first photo from the total eclipse this morning here in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, 78�� north latitude. Today started out clear and cold, -16C as we set out down to the waterfront to get around the mountains that ring the town, because the sun only rises to around 12�� above the horizon at this latitude at this time of year.
This photo is a phenomenon called��the ‘diamond ring,’ just as totality begins and ends. And totality today was the longest we’ve yet seen, at 2:27, but just like both times before it seemed to go by in seconds.
Likely more photos and perhaps a short video to come. Also photography from a trip by snowmobile to the Russian settlement at Barentsburg yesterday.
Just now, this afternoon in Svalbard, we’re a self-satisfied three for three on sunny skies for total solar eclipses. And each time that moon moving over the sun like that, creating a ring of fire, is��a reminder that human = little and the universe that can do things like that = way, way bigger. Every time is a real, deep privilege.
March 19, 2015
Twenty Four Hours to Eclipse
We’re in place for tomorrow’s total solar eclipse.��-15C at 7:00 this morning in Svalbard, at 78 degrees north latitude. The sun��is out over there behind that hill.
March 17, 2015
St. Patrick’s Day Eve in Belfast
Making our way to Svalbard for the #TSE2015 total solar eclipse on Friday, we made a stop in Belfast for Van Morrison in concert at the Europa Hotel, a small venue, 300 ticket show last night. Now it’s onward to Oslo and Svalbard.
March 13, 2015
Time for a New Adventure
Friday Photos will be on holiday with me for a couple of weeks, as we head out for the total solar eclipse next week in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. There’s more fun ahead in the Arctic, with a dog sled trip on tap. Then we’ll take the long way back with further visits in Norway, Germany, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Please wish us sunny skies. Current forecast��for��next Friday morning in Longyearbyen is outstanding! If we are lucky enough to see the eclipse, you’ll hear all about it here. Cheers for now.
March 11, 2015
Good News: Flights Resume to the Far North
This clip, from yesterday’s online FT.com, is excellent news for those of us planning to ride Norwegian Air up to Svalbard for next week’s total solar eclipse. The eleven day strike, that we sweated day by day right alongside pilots, management and flight crews, ended yesterday and today’s Oslo to��Longyearbyen flight shows “On Time” on the Norwegian web site.
I anticipate lots of photo coverage, here and at EarthPhotos.com, not only from the Arctic, but also as we continue our travels in the Faroe Islands and then sail to Iceland via the Smyril Line. Please join us.
March 6, 2015
Friday Photo #18, the Virunga Gorillas, Rwanda
This photo is from one of two mountain gorilla treks we took in 2008 in the Virunga mountains of Rwanda. Click to enlarge. More photos from those treks here. And if you’re considering a trip, here are some tips I wrote, mostly on my experience with taking pictures in the jungle. See more of Rwanda in the Rwanda Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.��Here are links to some of the other stories I��wrote at the time: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. And here are all the Friday Photos.
March 2, 2015
24 hours in Svalbard
A :22 second��time lapse video from Longyearbyen, capital of Svalbard, 800 miles from the North Pole, via the very neat Borealis Webcam from the University Center in Svalbard. It seems to act strangely in some browsers. Might want to pop it out to see it better. We’re heading up��in a��couple of��weeks for the March 20th total solar eclipse.
March 1, 2015
Another Place
bill:
Enjoyed this piece from author and friend Laurence Mitchell on his blog East of Elveden.
Originally posted on East of Elveden:
To reach Another Place you have to start in Liverpool. At least that is what we did, taking a Crosby-bound number 53 bus from the city���s Queen Square terminus. Leaving the Victorian magnificence of the city centre behind, the route leads through the edgelands of north Liverpool, in sight of huge abandoned red-brick warehouses that fringe the wide silver Mersey below. Away from the revitalised city centre and the heritage revamping of Albert Dock, this is a zone of substandard housing and broken dreams; a place where most of the pubs are boarded up and semi-ruined now that the dockers who once would have drank in them no longer have wage packets to fritter. The whole area seems partly abandoned to buddleia and the memory of better days although, here and there, like red-brick phoenixes, are signs of identikit housing development: new-build semi-detached homes with small gardens and big aspirations.
View original 415 more words
February 27, 2015
Friday Photo #17, the Bosphorus Strait at Istanbul
Click the photo to enlarge this HDR. This is the��The Ortakoy Mosque and the Bosphorus Bridge, Europe,��near side, and Asia, far side, in Istanbul, Turkey. There are 384 more photos from Turkey in the Turkey Gallery and 562 more HDR photos in the HDR Gallery at EarthPhotos.com. And here are all the Friday Photos. Have a look and enjoy them!
