Nicky 
Alto Cumulus by Max Streicher
Lately we’ve been having some very crazy weather. Two weeks ago Toronto was submerged by floods from torrential rain. From a hot sunny afternoon the sky darkened within minutes and the heavens opened and Toronto was under water in a way that many had never seen in the city. A week later on a Friday evening the clouds rolled in again, with more rain. This time there were no floods. However, after the rain Toronto witnessed some amazing cloud formations. Friends all over the city were taking photos and sharing them on Instagram. It’s been a few weeks of thunderstorms, high humidity and sunshine, so no wonder we had such amazing looking clouds.
So imagine my surprise last Monday morning on the way to work to encounter Alto Cumulus in the Allen Lambert Gallery in Brookfield Place. 
I was delighted. I love the art installations in the Allen Lambert Galleria. They are always thought-provoking and very different and they show off the architecture of the building in a great way. I took this shot with my Samsung Galaxy S3 as although I did have my Canon EOS T5i with me it my phone was actually in my hand at the time. I went back to Brookfield Place at the weekend when there were fewer people and took some more photos of the Alto Cumulus installation and I took the second photo with my Canon T5i from the south staircase looking up.
Alto Cumulus clouds are middle level clouds that are made of water droplets and appear as grey puffy masses. These clouds appearing on a warm, humid summer morning often means thunderstorms may occur by late afternoon.
That’s exactly how these low hanging clouds appeared in the Allen Lambert Gallery last Monday. After seeing so many extraordinary cloud formations outside now there were were some inside the building! A surreal and exciting sight.
Max Streicher is a Canadian sculptor and and installation artist from Alberta who works extensively with inflatable technology in kinaesthetic sculptures and installation works. I thought Alto Cumulus was perfect – surreal, unexpected and breathtaking all at the same time. A great example of some unusual urban art and an urban photo opportunity.
View Alto Cumulus Nicky Jameson’s Photo Gallery
