Perhentian Island, Terengganu, Malaysia (Poem - Clouds Amaze Me)

This photo was ranked amongst the "World's Best Photo of Nikon"
LARGER

This is about 15 minutes before the storm that lasted on and off for a couple of days. The Perhentian Islands has a reputation ranking of electrical storm activity, with or without rain, associated with the monsoon season, which gives some unique opportunities for photos... if you can find a spot that is not in the middle of "action" you'll be quite safe for lightning photograpy.

I really should have used a wide angle on this one instead of the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Prime, but what actually happened was I was torn between a wide angle for better panorama, and a fast lens considering the frequent lighting strikes in the clouds.

Clouds amaze me
Jun 17th, 2007 by by Don Iannone

Clouds amaze me
how easily they make friends
with other clouds, but
always maintain their independence, and
how they put themselves
at the mercy of the wind, that
keeps them from becoming
too set in their ways like mountains.

Clouds amaze me
how they drift in wisps and billows, and
how they dress up as scowling old men
with stately white beards, or
naughty elephants standing on hind legs, or
even battered pirate ships
on a tumultuous sea.

Clouds amaze me
how they seduce my imagination, and
how they make me want to dance, and
how they make me want to be
something other than I am,
if only long enough
to know what it’s like
to be someone or something else.

Clouds amaze me
because they can be whatever
they want to be, and
finally just like good poems, they
leave the right parts of the story untold.

Note: Don Iannone is the author of two published poetry books. Stilling the Waters was published in 2005 by Medicine Wheel Publishing, and Walks in Life’s Sacred Garden, which was released in May 2007 by BookSurge (an Amazon.com company).

Note: You can adjust your brightness by referring to the gray scale bitmap at the top of my profile as a guide.

Gears: Nikon D50 and Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
Location: Perhentian Island, Terengganu, Malaysia
Processing: No processing, and no cropping done on this piece

For most of my film works, I've also put up a new gallery on Leica User Group HERE