FYFD

Category: Art

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    Hovering Hawk

    Birds have a level of control in flight that would make any engineer jealous. This 2021 Audubon Photography Award winning video by Bill Bryant shows off the skills of a red-tailed hawk. On this occasion, the hawk is using strong winds coming off the Rocky Mountains to hover in place. Notice how active his wings and tail are in adjusting to the changes in the wind while his head is perfectly still. With his head still, the hawk can scan the ground for mice and other prey. It’s absolutely incredible to see how effortlessly the hawk is accounting for unsteadiness in the wind here! (Video and image credit: B. Bryant; via Audubon)

    A red-tailed hawk hovers on the wind while hunting.
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    “Starlit”

    In “Starlit” filmmaker Roman De Giuli explores a universe in a fish tank. The planets and asteroids we see are droplets of paint and ink floating in a transparent, gel-like medium. I particularly like the sequences where paint stretches, beads up, and breaks into a string of droplets! (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)

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    Aerial Sheep Flow

    I may never get tired of drone videos of sheep herding. They are mesmerizing to watch and full of so many characteristics of flow. Like a compressible fluid, the herd squeezes together as it passes through a gate, then spreads and decreases density as it reaches the pasture. The sequence of sheep moving down the road reminds me of pipe flow, with a boundary layer of sheep along the edge who choose to graze rather than move with the herd. There are even sheep vortices in this video, folks. Vortices of sheep! How could you resist watching?! (Video credit: L. Patel; via Colossal; submitted by Florian T. and Matevz D.)

  • Chasing the Storm

    Chasing the Storm

    Towering mountains of convection and ominous colors are staples of Adam Kyle Jackson’s storm photography. His dramatic portraits of supercell thunderstorms highlight the majesty and power of these turbulent phenomena. Make sure to follow him on Instagram for lots more! (Image credit: A. Jackson; via Nat Geo)

  • “The Goblet of Fire”

    “The Goblet of Fire”

    Sometimes the mundane events of life hide extraordinary phenomena. This award-winning photograph by Sarang Naik shows yellow-brown spores streaming off a mushroom during monsoon season. The plume is abstract and beautiful; you could easily mistake it for the flames of an Olympic torch. But common as they are, the lowly mushroom hides interesting depths. To get their spores to travel further, mushrooms actually generate their own breezes! (Image credit: S. Naik; via Big Picture Competition)

    With the Olympics kicking off today, FYFD will follow our usual tradition of Olympic-themed posts for the next couple weeks, so be sure to come back each day for the latest featured sport!

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    Inside Old-Fashioned Butter

    Today’s video is a little different: it’s an inside look at a butter-making shop in France that uses traditional nineteenth-century methods to process the butter. Watching workers fold and shape 50 kilos of butter is mesmerizing, and it highlights the amorphous, pseudo-fluid nature of the butter. Yes, the butter holds its shape like a solid, but it’s a soft solid at best and certainly shows fluid-like qualities when force is applied. A word of warning: you might not want to watch this on an empty stomach! (Image and video credit: Art Insider; via Colossal)

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    “Playing With Time”

    The Macro Room team is back with this clever video that messes with our perception of time. I’d hate to give anything away here, so just go check it out! (Image and video credit: Macro Room)

  • “Phoenix Rising”

    “Phoenix Rising”

    This aerial photo of Lake Owens by Paul Hoelen won a 2020 Drone Photo Award in the Abstract category. As Hoelen notes, “The phoenix rising is a symbol of re-emergence from the ashes of fire.” Lake Owens was used for years in mining and other industries, which left the lake desiccated and depleted. But nature is beginning to recover; migratory birds have returned to the lake, and life is beginning anew. (Image credit: P. Hoelen; via Colossal)

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    Kinetic Sculptures by Anthony Howe

    These mesmerizing kinetic sculptures built by Anthony Howe are entirely wind-driven. It’s not necessarily apparent in these images, but these sculptures are several meters tall and weigh hundreds of kilograms, but they’re engineered so precisely that the slightest breeze sets them silently spinning. See more of Howe’s art in action on his YouTube channel. (Video and image credits: A. Howe; via Colossal)

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    “Stream”

    Roman De Giuli’s short film “Stream” explores a macro world of color and flow, with a few glimpses behind-the-scenes at how the visuals get made. The artistic canvas here is a glass plate; the materials are oil, ink, and water. As simple as the ingredients are, though, the view is complex and enchanting. It’s amazing to see just how much goes on in an area the size of one’s thumb. (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)