Melbourne in June

For all you northern hemisphere folks: in Australia the seasons are reversed, so June is actually the middle of winter. This storm clouds photography print shows an amazing cloud formation above Melbourne. There’s nothing too unusual about a cloud formation on its own, but look carefully at the bottom of the image and you’ll see the Melbourne skyline – compared to the clouds, the buildings look like ants.
Seeing this in person was quite humbling. The power of storm clouds next to a city built by man is a little scary, honestly. From a philosophical point of view, you could say that even nature’s most powerful clouds can’t do much to a city built by man. So the real question becomes: who should we be in awe of, nature or man? Or maybe the deeper question is whether man is part of nature – or, in more Zen terms, whether nature is part of man. Either way, it’s a striking image of both.
I find it hard to find the words for the sheer power of weather like this. I’ve been in Melbourne when these storms hit, and it can rain like crazy for an hour straight. But the locals have found their own way of coping with the chaos – they head to the nearest coffee shop and order a coffee with milk.