Thematic Photographic 252 - Cloudspotting

Tip of the spear
London, ON
June 2013

When I was a kid, I spent too much time lying face-up on the front lawn, staring at the sky and trying to find shapes in the clouds above. I doubt I was much different from any kid at that time. It was, after all, a pre-Internet, go-outside-and-play world where kids weren't hyper-programmed by over-protective parents and the world seemed a little less mean-spirited.

Key word: seemed. I'm sure it was plenty nasty and scary. We just didn't seem to notice it as acutely as we do today. Maybe ignorance was indeed bliss.

These days, I don't lie in the grass as often as I probably should. First, I worry about bug bites. And other, ah, stuff. Second, it would embarrass our kids. Third, I get nauseous.

But that doesn't mean I can't wander around with a camera and point it skyward. As I did on this evening a few weeks ago, just after a major tornado-warning-spawning rainstorm had swept through the area. The sky becomes an amazing place in the wake of a southwestern Ontario storm - or, I'm guessing, a storm wherever you happen to live. So please consider this my challenge to y'all to get outside over the next week to take in the overhead show.

Your turn: Take a cloud-themed pic - remember, how you interpret the theme is entirely up to you - and post it to your blog, website or other online "spot". Leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it, and be sure to visit other participants. New this week: Bonus points for anyone who shares the #ThematicPhotographic hashtag on Twitter and Facebook*. Head here for more background on Thematic. And don't forget to have fun with it. Because fun is what this is all about.

* I can be found on Facebook here, and on Twitter here.