Postcard from Hawai’i – Another Rainbow
Category: Hawai’i
Exploring the islands
Postcard from Hawai’i – Tools of the Trade
Capturing the Mountian Shadow
A high quality pan-tilt-zoom camera on the roof of the observatory at an altitude of 13,630ft? Just too much fun. I have found myself logging into the camera at sunset to enjoy the view, or keeping the video in the corner of my screen through a Hawaiian blizzard. I have even forwarded images to a local television station when they requested views of a white Christmas in Hawaiʻi. Yes, they used them for the evening news!
To make the best of this wonderful toy I need some tools. To that end several Python programs have been written, including a camera scheduler. This program takes a text file with a schedule and captures images at the programmed time and date. All of this was easy to implement in Python, all of the necessary ‘net protocol support is available in the libraries.
The schedule file can contain any number of separate schedules for multiple sequences. At the specified time the program insures the camera is set properly, moves the camera to the correct position and captures the image. Each sequence is saved to a unique directory and given a sequential name suitable for compiling time lapse video. Add a simple GUI to allow images and status to be monitored and the program becomes a very useful tool.
There are now multiple sequences running… Photos of the summit ridge at each sunset, the shadow of the GPS antenna every day at noon, the Kohala mountain every day mid-morning, the TMT construction site several times a day, and more.
Postcard from Hawai’i – Drying Coffee
Rigging scuba gear at the old airport park, a nice place for a Saturday morning dive with the guys. Just in front of my vehicle a couple is spreading large tarps on the pavement. Setting up a party pavilion? Then the bags of beans get unloaded… They are drying coffee! The old runway with hot asphalt in the sunlight is a good place, those beans will dry fast!
Only in Hawai’i…
Postcard from Hawai’i – Epiphytic
Rainbow Wheel
As I have mentioned previously, Waimea has rainbows. Not just a few rainbows either, but multiple rainbows through the day. Add a few cloud bows, and moon-bows into the schedule and you get the idea of how common rainbows are in this town. The last couple weeks have been above average, with rainbows even us jaded rainbow viewers have stopped and taken notice of.
I stopped for this rainbow as is looked like a good photo op, I was just on my way home from work and had plenty of time to play with a camera. To my surprise I noted that some cloud shadows were cutting the south end of the bow, creating a wheel, something I had never seen before.
Welcome to 2014!
Welcome to 2014!
We may be among the last to join in the new year, Hawai’i is always a bit behind, but we do it in style. I have noted that the amount of fireworks going off in the neighborhood is a good economic indicator. The size of some of the local arsenals is fairly impressive this year, in notable contrast to some previous years, there is a lot of crackle, whistle and bang this year.
Keck at the End of the Rainbow
Waimea could honestly use the tagline “Place of Rainbows”. I see more rainbows here than anywhere else I know of. The trades blow the wet tropical air into the saddle between Mauna Kea and the Kohala. This creates a bank of clouds that dissipates right over the town. Clouds and rain on one side of town, clear skies on the other side, add low morning or afternoon sunlight and the rainbows appear. Sometimes they appear in convenient locations…
Icy Sunrise
Just Another Kohala Sunset
