AUGUST 2025
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| VOL 20 ISSUE 8 | AUGUST 2025 |
This picture may not be very intriguing to most people, but I was thrilled to capture the elusive 'Green Flash' at sunset at Crystal Pier at Pacific Beach, San Diego. I studied optical engineering at Penn State and have worked in the lighting field for quite a while, but this phenomenon still amazes me. I'm going to be making a video to explain it, but I still need to research it more myself. The quick story is that the suns light is bending into a prism when it hits our atmosphere. Of the rainbow of colors, Red/Orange/Yellow dip below the horizon first and the Blue/Indigo/Violet get scattered the most in our atmosphere leaving Green to dominate for a very brief moment. However, this doesn't happen every day (I know...I tried 4 days while in San Diego and only one sunset delivered the green). There is more to do with mirage effect of atmospheric conditions and the clear line of site to the horizon. I hope to be a self-proclaimed expert before I do the video.
My wife bought me a "lightning detector" for my camera for Christmas last year, but there hadn't really been any lighting in Phoenix since then. That all changed this month when the monsoon rolled into the valley. The device is from MK Controls and it's called 'Lightning Bug Plus' and it has been fantastic at capturing amazing bolts of lightning. It take a little bit of skill and guesswork to know where to aim and focus and get the right exposure setting, but after that the lightning bug does all of the work while I stand by and watch the electric show! Dust storms have been a big thing for this year's monsoon too. I have been able to get some cool photos and videos of two of them and experienced another while driving at night. That was surreal. I guess I am becoming an amature storm chaser and I'm really enjoying capturing images of these fantastic displays of nature.
I was hopeful that I could post to my new YouTube Channel for Mark Greenawalt Fine Art every week, but it's been averaging more like every two weeks. Here are the two videos I posted in August. The first took a long time to edit, but I'm really proud of this one about my epic journey to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to capture the Total Solar Eclipse of 2024. In this video I do a deep dive into how I photographed the eclipse, but also talked about my jam packed visit to Cleveland to see the sights of the harbor and of course the RRHOF museum. The second is my drone footage of the relocated London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona. I filmed this over the Christmas break so the bridge was illuminated in festive holiday colors once the sun had set. The channel is slowly growing as I add more content, but as of this month there are only 14 subscribers and each of the 10 videos has less than 100 views.
September - Oregon and Massatchusetts State Capitals
October - Teotiuacan and Mexico City
E-ya later,
Mark Greenawalt
Mark@MarkGreenawalt.com
My gift to you is my music. Please kindly accept by going to these fine streaming services to download and stream! I hope you like some and consider them for your favorite playlists!
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