Cloud Lovers, We Salute Ye!
 Since March 2005, when we first made the acquaintance of The Cloud Appreciation Society, we've been huge fans of the upward-looking league. It's hard to resist a forum so thoroughly besotted with the wispy swirls overhead—and the site made our list of the Best Picks of the Year.
Now, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder and chief advocate of the group, talks with us about how best to snap a cloud's portrait, why he hates blue-sky thinking, and why he thinks more than 9,000 people have joined his "whimsical, pointless" club. What inspired you to start the Cloud Appreciation Society? I feel that people complain about the clouds too much and someone needs to stand up for them. They are one of Nature's most beautiful and varied displays. They're also the most egalitarian, since everyone can have a fantastic view of the clouds. Your membership is huge! (Current count: 9,035 cloudspotters.) How do members find you—or you them? I don't know. I have never actively tried to recruit members. They come to the society having been told about it by friends or by searching for stuff about clouds. To my surprise, people seem very willing to join such a whimsical, pointless society. I guess everyone remembers enjoying finding shapes in the clouds when they were young, and the lighthearted spirit of The Cloud Appreciation Society reawakens those feelings. The picture gallery boasts a stunning array of moody, backlit, gorgeous images. How have the photo submissions changed over the years—if at all? They haven't, other than the fact that since my book, "The Cloudspotter's Guide," has come out, people seem a bit better informed in identifying the cloud types that they send in. As far as the shots themselves go, they are the same as ever—just dramatic, stunning, and uplifting cloudscapes. We are only able to show so many rare formations and so many fantastic clouds in the shape of things because there is now a network of cloudspotters carrying little digital cameras around with them, ready to snap anything interesting and send it in. Any advice on the best stance for snapping a good cloud shot? Both feet on the ground and your head in the clouds. The site is beautifully designed. How much time goes in to it? A bit more than I would like. I trained as an art director, so I was keen for it to be a clean and simple looking site. It is the first and only website that I have ever produced. How do you select the member highlights? I like to write up a little bit about any members who stand out as being unusual. It is just to give people an idea of what a varied bunch our members are. I need to write a new one of these, but I think I will go for someone more typical this time, as the last ones have included an amateur astronomer who lives in northern Iraq, someone who observed cloudspotting amongst gorillas while studying them in the Congo, and our only member who is not a human being—Dibba the dog (Member 4599). Seen any really great clouds lately? The UK has had rather too many Nimbostratus clouds over the last month or so. These are the dull, featureless, drizzle clouds that make the sky a uniform grey. But what many here have missed is that in between them have been really dramatic and varied skies, including of course fantastic-looking Cumulonimbus storm clouds. These almighty beasts stretch many miles into the sky, often have distinctive anvil shapes and are factories for thunder, lightning and heavy precipitation. Any advice for someone looking to start a society of her own? Just do it: Say that you are the head of it, put up a website, and make it easy and cheap to join and, if possible, funny. Of course, anyone thinking of starting The Blue-Sky Brotherhood, must realize that by doing so they'd be declaring war against our 8,800 official cloudspotters the world over. We pledge to fight blue-sky thinking wherever we find it. And we're with you! Thanks, Gavin!
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