IrwinFoto

A gallery of photos by Mike Irwin

  • Altocumulus | above Grand Junction, CO | September 2019

    Window Seat #3 | Explanations of how clouds float undermine the glorious mystery of levitation. Science asserts that gravity has little effect on a cloud’s micro-droplets, upward air currents offer lofty support, and a water particle’s shifting shape and mass determine if it becomes a raindrop. All good. But I prefer to think that (more…)

  • Winglet | above Ogden, UT | September 2019

    Window Seat #2 | Upturned fins, called winglets, at the tips of jet wings blend airflows of differing pressures that could cause turbulence. I like them because they look cool, rather rakish. I’ve always thought it’d be great to have some kind of winglet to ease everyday turbulence, such as squabbling over who mows the grass or bickering about the price of a used car. Maybe a baseball cap with (more…)

  • Sunrise | above Pilot Rock, OR | September 2019

    Window Seat #1 | Sun, clouds, jet wing — the combination can befuddle a smartphone sensor and, similarly, my brain. The sight brings to mind other situations of sensory overload: Aurora borealis shimmering against starlight, a seabird flock spiraling like a living tornado, wind-whipped snow falling at the Grand Canyon. It’s all too wondrous to (more…)

  • Turtle and Carp | Fairfield Bay, AR | September 2019

    “Much of the vitality in a friendship lies in the honoring of differences, not simply in the (more…)

  • Night Light | Fairfield Bay, AR | September 2019

    Incandescence #3 | “I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again. So there is really only one logical conclusion: (more…)

  • Mountain Light | Cashmere, WA | September 2019

    Incandescence #2 | “Most of us exist in worlds that are humanly arranged, themed and controlled. We forget there are environments that do not respond to the flick of a switch or the twist of a dial, and that have their own rhythms and orders of existence. Mountains correct this amnesia. By speaking of forces greater than we can possibly (more…)

  • Bulb | East Wenatchee, WA | September 2019

    Incandescence # 1 | “Suppose you make a [tiny] hole in an ordinary electric light bulb and allow air molecules to pass at a rate of 1,000,000 per second. The bulb will become full of air in 100,000,000 years.”

    — Francis William Aston (d. 1945), Nobel Prize-winning chemist and physicist

    [Blogger’s Note: I’m on the road this week and am relying on quotes from artists, authors and scientists to complement my photos.]

  • Show Goat | Cashmere, WA | September 2019

    County Fair #3 | “My goats are not contemplative, accepting, or introspective. They are the Greek chorus of my farm, sometimes of my life. They watch me closely and (more…)

  • 2nd Place Tomatoes | Cashmere, WA | September 2019

    County Fair #2 | “Second place is just the first loser.” — Professional race car driver Dale Earnhardt

    “Because I came in second place, it makes me want to work harder.” — Diana DeGarmo, first runner-up in the third season of the “American Idol” TV series

    “Three tomatoes are walking down the street (more…)

  • 1st Place Onion | Cashmere, WA | September 2019

    County Fair #1 | “Could it be, God forbid, that nationality is only a superficial, insignificant layer of the onion that is your being? What would you think of the man who says (more…)