Category Archives: Astrophotography – from the Observacar

Golden Christmas balls

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Figure 1 - Golden Christmas balls, Natick, MA. (C) DE Wolf 2016.

Figure 1 – Golden Christmas balls, Natick, MA. (C) DE Wolf 2016.

Figure 1 is another photograph of Christmas. These are golden Christmas balls. And of course, there are connotations or memories that they invoke. An obvious one is bubbles, perhaps a soapy foam. But for me, as a scientist, I cannot help but think of molecular packing. Spheres will tend towards close backing, and this reminds me very much of a crystal lattice, perhaps the molecular packing of a gold nanoparticle, and, of course, of planets.

Crystal packing is like its opposite, the random fractal. The crystal is supreme order and like the fractal occurs at all scales. And then there is the curious paradox that, in general, crystals are assembled by the fractal random process of diffusion. It is the ultimate example of order out of chaos. The structure of the crystal is locked within the physical properties of the individual atoms and they assemble like so many Legos according to physical law.

A Day on the Coast

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Important Days

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Along the Shore

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The World Press Photography Winners for 2016

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The World Press Photography Winners for 2016 were announced today. So take a break from inane and endless election coverage and depress yourself all over again with the tragic events of 2015. Well maybe that’s an overstatement. These are not just images of tragedy, and even when they are there is often an attempt to capture an essential element of humanity. This year’s images are amazing and it is really hard to pick favorites. I’m going to settle on two favorites and let you decide the rest for yourselves.

My first pick is Matic Zorman’s “Waiting to Register,” showing a child’s face covered with a plastic raincoat as she waits to register at a refugee camp in Presevo, Serbia. The bars speak for themselves and the distortion of the child’s face by the raincoat creates a Kafkaesque surrealism. This is marvelously crafted.

My second favorite Rohan Kelly’s “Storm Front on Bondi (Sydney, Australia) Beach,” a sunbather reads a tablet, oblivious to the looming clouds. I suggest an alternative title: “At the beach for the Apocalypse.”

As always these press photographers do something amazing. They capture just the right instant, “the decisive moment” that tells the entire story. It really speaks to a magic element of photography – the ability to reduce time to a single instant.

Portraits and Light

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In the City

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Afternoon Light

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