When color is not the point...

Most photos are color these days.  Of course, you can take the color away and approximate a good old fashioned black & white.  But these are all full color, it's just that they have very little color.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Monterrey Bay, California.  William and I heard what we thought were dogs barking, somewhere off in the fog.  California Sea Lions !  Spooky.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Same trip, weather, and clouds, really cooperating, as the fog engulfed the far end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A Kingfisher, Kaziranga, Assam, India.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Much closer to home, dad's place, Gonzalez County, Texas.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Near Shillong, Assam, India.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Called "Chinese Fishing Nets", these are near Kochi, India on an inlet from the Arabian Sea.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Train station, my favorite Finnish town, Hyvinkaa, i a rather chilly morning.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Sejong-daero, Seoul, South Korea

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

This Hyvinkaa resident is probably pretty sorry he didn't fly south when he had the chance.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

La Plaza del Sol, Madrid, Spain.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Old-school water pump, on a country road, near Weimer, Texas.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Another foggy morning, Muitianyu section of the Great Wall.  Hard to see the full length of the wall, but very few people, and a cool way to walk through the clouds.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A flight of birds, who care nothing about north, or south.  The edge of the DMZ, border between the Koreas.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Crisscrossing trolley tracks and cobble stones, Helsinki, Finland, 
just toward the harbor from the big Lutheran Church.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

An angry sky over Manhattan, New York City.


Ok guys, y'all take care.

- Mark

The Sky !

Our planet is fantastic !

The sky is a wonderful show.

It's free to see, 

and it's happening all the time !

                                - M

 Storm clouds over Colorado

 Dawn in Venice

 The San Jacinto Monument, just across from the Battleship Texas.

 Sun peaking through the fog, Kaziranga, India.

 Just North of Big Bend National Park.

 Dawn, east of Marathon, Texas.

 "The Shaman", Seminole Canyon State Part, Texas.

Sunset, Laguna Beach, California.

George Washington Bridge, New York.

"A Bridge Too Far", Arnhem Bridge, The Netherlands

 Moon rise, Shillong, Assam, India

Dawn, Port of Kochi, India.

I call this "Indians just wanna' have fun".

Pre-dawn arrival back in the USA, Newark, New Jersey

"The Edge of Space" (not really...it's out my airplane window)

 "Blood Moon", with Jupiter off to the lower right.

A very chilly April morning on the Gulf of Finland 

(chunks of ice forming on the surface)

 1880's Lighthouse, Port Aransas, Texas.

 Dockside in Montreal.

Dawn launch, Albuquerque Balloon Festival.

Stormy day, Lower Manhattan, New York City.

 And, swinging all the way back around...

the sun coming up over a flood control pond, Houston, Texas

Look up.  Keep looking up !

- Mark

Explosion in Houston

At about 04:24 this morning, this plant blew up in Northwest Houston.  The explosion was felt up to 40 miles (65km) away.  My house, is 4 miles (6.5km) away... we really felt it.  My son's house is only 2 miles away, he said car alarms were set off all over his neighborhood.

Sadly, two employees who came in early to work out at the small gym they had on site, died when their entry to the building set off gas that had been leaking into the building overnight.

As I stood outside, trying to figure which direction the noise had come from, just a few minutes after the explosion, I noticed small bits of what looked like building insulation falling down, like snowflakes from the sky.  Eerie.

Y'all take care.
- Mark