INSIDE PALAIS GARNIER Photograph by Trey Ratcliff @ StuckinCustoms.com The Palais Garnier is a 1,979-seat opera house built between 1861 and 1875 for the Paris Opera. Originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines, it soon became known as the Palais Garnier in recognition of…
LIGHTNING STRIKES A FAIRWAY Photograph via SmangAllDay on Reddit Redditor SmangAllDay shared this photo earlier this week of his local golf course after being struck by lightning. The fascinating fractal pattern you see on the fairway is known as a Lichtenberg figure which has been featured on the Sifter previously. For those…
THE CRANE OPERATOR’S VIEW Photograph by MildlyReactive on deivantART In this fantastic shot by MildlyReactive we see what a crane operator’s view would be like at night. The photographer is not actually a crane operator, he’s an Urban Explorer or ‘Rooftopper‘ who likes to scale buildings and other objects of significant height…
REFLECTION AFFECTION Photograph by Park Chowol | sidesee.kr In this fantastic night-time reflection photo, we see the beautiful Dongbaekseom Island (now part of the mainland) in Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea. Haeundae is an affluent, beach front community that attracts many Korean tourists and foreigners to what many consider to be Korea’s best…
THE UPS AND DOWNS Photograph by Bastian Staude – streetw[o]rk In this beautifully composed, monochrome image by street photographer Bastian Staude, we see two escalators side by side. The view from above is intriguing and it would be interesting to know how he got this straight down POV. The staggered steps between…
GREETINGS EARTHLINGS Photograph by NASA/Steve Robinson STS-114 astronaut Soichi Noguchi waves from the Shuttle payload bay, backdropped by the Earth below. During the mission’s second spacewalk, Noguchi and Discovery crewmate Steve Robinson replaced a failed gyroscope which keeps the International Space Station in the proper position in orbit. STS-114 was the first…
BOWLING BALL BEACH Photograph by Brocken Inaglory Located along the Mendocino coast of California, USA, Bowling Ball Beach is located about three miles south of Point Arena, where Schooner Gulch Road intersects State Highway 1. Until recently there were two trailheads from this location. The Southern trail still leads visitors to Schooner…
LONG EXPOSURE LIGHTNING STRIKE Photograph by Dean Mullin on 500px In this fabulous capture by Dean Mullin, we see a long exposure shot of a lightning bolt off the coast of Kuala Belait in Brunei. The photo was taken on Belait Beach which overlooks the South China Sea. To get this shot,…
OWL GET YOU Photograph via The Government of Quebec In this incredible capture we see a Snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) about to pounce on its prey. The yellow-eyed, black-beaked, white bird is 52–71 centimetres (20–28 in) long, with a 125–150 centimetres (49–59 in) wingspan. These birds can weigh anywhere from 1.6 to…
THE VAPOR CONE Photograph by Joe Oliva/U.S. Air Force An F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot with the Viper East Demonstration Team from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., creates a ‘cone’ of condensation on Aug. 21, 2010, as he nears Mach 1 during a flyby at an open house at Volk Field Air National…