Friday, April 27, 2012

Stunning and rarely photographed 'Moonbow' captured over Victoria Falls


Arching over the world famous Victoria Falls this mesmeric rainbow shines in the moonlight creating a nocturnal light show.

Known as a 'Moonbow', the hypnotic phenomenon was captured under the gaze of a full moon over 'The Devils Cataract' section of the falls.

Photographer and television presenter Charlie Hamilton James travelled to Cataract Island on the Zambezi River between Zimbabwe and Zambia, where he managed to observe this rarely witnessed event.

‘The photos of moon rainbows over The Devils Cataract are probably the first ever taken,’ said 38-year-old Charlie, from the West Country.

‘Victoria Falls is also known as "the smoke that thunders" because it creates such a huge spray of water - up to a mile high. This is obviously perfect conditions for rainbows - both day and night rainbows.

‘We took them from Cataract Island in Zimbabwe and I spent several nights shooting more time lapses and also still images.’

Rarely photographed, Moonbows are common events that reveal themselves at the most unsociable times.  


‘Moon rainbows are not a rare phenomenon you just need the conditions - large amounts of spray and a full moon,’ said Charlie. ‘I'm sure moon rainbows happen all over the place but most will be too faint to see. Victoria Falls is one of the largest falls on earth and so creates the massive amounts of spray needed.’

Spectacular when photographed, the Moonbow was in fact underwhelming to the naked eye.
‘Funnily enough it’s not too impressive to the naked eye, it's just a faint white milky arc with no colour in it,’ said Charlie.

‘The joy of photography is that we can keep the camera shutter open for a long time and reveal the true nature of the light that our eyes are simply not sensitive to see.

‘Even though they don't look so impressive to the naked eye, it's still a very cool thing to witness.

‘Seeing them exposed on the screen on the back of the camera was very cool.
‘It was not easy getting into the locations we needed to be to shoot the images and we had to shoot them on the few days over the full moon.

‘So when it all came together it was very exciting.’

Charlie's passion for photography began at an early age, with fascination with kingfishers. He went onto win Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award twice in 1990 and 1991.

Charlie's passion quickly transcended to film and he carried out his first paid job at the age of 16, helping out a cameraman on David Attenborough's Trials of Life.

Charlie went onto work for the BBC's Natural History Unit before he met his future wife, TV Presenter Philippa Forrester in 2000.

The couple have since gone onto make award winning films for the BBC.
The 330-foot-high and nearly one-mile-wide Victoria Falls is the world’s largest curtain of falling water.

An astonishing 137million gallons of water passes over the Falls per minute.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Real-life spider-man who scales derelict buildings to take astonishing birds-eye view shots


These are the vertigo-inducing images taken by a real-life spider-man who scales derelict buildings to take astonishing birds-eye view shots.

Daredevil Dennis Maitland, 24, climbed into lift shafts, up former office blocks and over the edge of balconies to snap the incredible pictures.

And the professional photographer then sat atop the structures and took a birds-eye picture looking directly down.


He said: 'Everyone says they get this queasy feeling in their stomach after looking at my pictures.

'Others you can see start to feel symptoms of vertigo. I've even had a few people say to me that I'm crazy and my work must be a cry for help, which it definitely isn't.'

Dennis, who was born and raised in Detroit but left to study at university in Arizona, decided to return and document its decay following the demise of the motor industry.



He set about clambering up some of the run-down town's most decrepit sites and snapping a pic from the edge of its highest point.

He added: 'I wanted to capture a different perspective of Detroit. People have seen it from the ground and how buildings are left to ruin.

'But I wanted to show it from above, so decided to climb them instead.

'I can pinpoint through my scars which picture and what building it was taken on. They are like a catalogue in my mind.'


And incredibly, despite scaling to extreme heights, Dennis refuses to use safety equipment.
He said: 'I don't use any climbing equipment. I'm not sure the photos would have the same meaning or emotion if I had done it with safety equipment. They are much more raw this way.

'With that being said, I'm extremely cautious at all times. I rely on working with the fire brigade and police, so that I don't get arrested.


'And if I ever get a bad feeling about something I trust my instinct and backdown.'
Dennis took the first snap in August 2011 and hasn't stopped since.

He said: 'it isn't scary at all, thankfully I don't suffer from vertigo and never have.

'Normally I poke my head over the edge to ensure the view is what I want to capture then slowly creep over.



'While I'm on the edge my brain is only focused on being safe and getting the shot.

'I never look down as I take it, instead just looking at the camera and the shot.
'Usually it is a pretty fast process.'

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Inside the world's largest STONE forest, where tropical rain has eroded rocks into 300ft razor-sharp spikes


Isolated and inhospitable, this huge collection of razor-sharp vertical rocks looks like the last place where wildlife would thrive.

The colossal 'Grand Tsingy' landscape in western Madagascar is the world's largest stone forest, where high spiked towers of eroded limestone tower over the greenery.


But despite its cold, dangerous appearance, the labyrinth of 300ft stones is home to a number of animal species, including 11 types of lemur.

Its name, 'Tsingy' translates as 'where one cannot walk', due to the hazardous formations of razor-sharp pinnacles made from limestone which have been eroded by tropical rain.

Explorer and photographer Stephen Alvarez captured the beauty of the Grand Tsingy when he went there as part of an expedition for National Geographic.

As well as the dramatic backdrop of the 230-square mile limestone landscape, he also photographed lemurs leaping from rock to rock as part of their natural home in the Tsingy de Bemaraha national park.

Stephen, 47, said: 'There's forest within those rocks and animals including families of lemurs live within it.

'It's an unbelievable experience to watch them, they forage in the forest in the day and jump like acrobats from the sharp pinnacles where they sit at night.

I'd never seen a landscape like it. 'My first impression was thank god, it was more tremendous than I had ever imagined and I knew straight away I would be able to get some fantastic photos.



Stephen said the Tsingy was so remote it took him five days to reach it from Madagascar's capital and it was so difficult to explore it took a whole day to walk just half a mile.

'It's like a cave without a roof, it gets a tremendous amount of tropical rain that has eroded the rock into these sharp rock pinnacles.

'The rocks themselves are really sharp, they stick up like giant steak knives. It is one of the most difficult places I've ever explored.'

As well as lemurs, the Tsingy de Bemaraha national park is also home to the small carnivorous falanouc, the ring-tailed mongoose, and several bats.

More than 100 species of bird have also been recorded as living in the park, along with 45 species of reptile.

Friday, April 13, 2012

World's tallest treehouse - commissioned by God


The world's tallest treehouse, located in Crossville, Tennessee, makes the Swiss Family Robinsons look like a bunch of amateurs - but that might be because it was commissioned by God.

The 1960 Disney film about a family shipwrecked on an island, features an impressive treehouse complete with its own water mill.


But the Robinson's home pales in significance next to this structure, which took builder Horace Burgess 11 years to build.

Horace, who lives in the 10 story wooden house, said he begun the build in 1993 after he received a vision from God, who said he would never run out of materials if he built it.


The enormous treehouse is a whopping 10,000 square feet but only cost Horace a reasonable $12,000 thanks to his thrifty use of recycled materials.

Inside there are spiral staircases, a sanctuary, a choir loft, a basketball court, and countless rooms, walkways and balconies.





These photos were taken by photographer Tom Whetton, 63, on March 15, this year.
He said: 'The treehouse is incredibly impressive.

'You can't really appreciate the scale until you are standing next to it but it is absolutely huge.
'I was told that the whole thing is supported by just six trees and that Horace used 258,000 nails to put everything together.

'This house is every kids dream. Even I wanted to go inside and explore.'




Sunday, April 8, 2012

Natural phenomenon turns sea water an electric neon blue


It may look like an alien life-form has washed up on a beach, but this striking neon blue effect is a completely natural phenomenon.

The incredible image was taken by photographer Doug Perrine during a visit to Vaadhoo, one of the Raa Atoll islands in the Maldives.

It captures a natural chemical reaction called bioluminescence, which occurs when a micro-organism in the water is disturbed by oxygen.

The reaction is similar to the ‘glow’ that fireflies use to attract prey or mates.


Although a rare sight on a shoreline, the phenomenon is more commonly seen at sea in the wake of ships that stir up the oxygen in the sea, which causes the bioluminescent bacteria to glow. 

Many undersea organisms ‘glow’, especially creatures that live at depths where light from the surface is less likely to penetrate.

The night-time glow is a side-effect of blooming red algae, known as red tide, which can turn entire beaches scarlet and murky during the day.


The smell of decay, caused by rotting kelp, plankton and fish often accompanies the event as the red algae starves the water of oxygen and light. 

By night, there is an increase in microscopic plankton called dynoflagellates, which glow in the dark when disturbed by currents or waves.

Mr Perrine's photo also shows the glow of a ship's lights on the horizon towards the right of the photo, while the stars in the sky above provide a muted contrast to the blue aura on the beach.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Daredevil Chinese workers put finishing touches to world's highest bridge


This hard-grafting painter may have climbed the ladder to a career high... but one mistake and it's a hard fall back to where he started.

Labourers put the finishing touches to the Anzhaite Long-span Suspension Bridge in Jishou, Hunan, China, this week, just in time for its opening.


And at 1,102ft up and 3,858ft across the ambitious suspension bridge has become the highest and longest in the world.



Work started on the engineering feat in October 2007 and the bulk of the work finished at the end of last year.

It is designed to ease traffic in the Jishou area of Hunan province and officially opened to motorists today.

Drivers can take in the views of the Dehang Canyon as they steer their way across all 3,858ft of the new sky-high road which links two tunnels.


The bridge, which is lit up at night with 1,888 lights, is the fourth suspension bridge to cross a valley so wide it seems to be connecting two mountain ranges.

Once on the bridge cars and lorries can motor along a two-way, four-lane motorway at about 50mph. Pedestrians can also walk along it on a special walkway under the road.


The bridge is a key part of the Jishou-Chadong Expressway, a 64-kilometre road which has 18 different tunnels which cover about half of its length. 

It is hoped the bridge will help ease traffic jams which are common in the mountainous area which has narrow, steep and winding roads. 


The structure is supported by a base 78ft wide. 

China has the longest bridge in the world, the Danyang Kunshan Grand Bridge which is just over 100miles long and was built two years ago to carry the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway.