2019-03-27: Wordless Wednesday
2019-03-20: Wordless Wednesday
2019-0318: Monochrome Monday
Racing into another week – I hope it’s a good one!
2019-03-17: Signs of Spring
I have not photographed a single sign of spring this week, though I have been enjoying them immensely. I guess in some ways the topic, photographically at least, has been a fail, but it has been making me more aware, and more appreciative of the little signs that spring is on its way.
Today in fact, it really felt as if spring has arrived. Despite the lawn still being covered in snow, it was warm enough to sit on my front porch with an iced coffee and my knitting, and enjoy the warmth of the sun for awhile. Today, that felt a lot more important than rushing around trying to find an image that symbolized the change of seasons.
Instead, here is an image I just finished working on; a 3 shot panorama taken at Phinda Reserve, May 2017. Everyone knows elephants are my favourite, and they are a great stand-in whenever I need an image. This was another moment where sitting and allowing life to unfold was just perfect. Our guide knew the ellies would be heading for the dam, so we drove to it, and just waited. And they arrived shortly after, in groups of 2 and 3, until we had the scene here unfold. And then just as quietly, they all headed back into the bush, to carry on with the day.
Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead.
2019-03-13: Wordless Wednesday
2019-03-04: Monochrome Monday
This is one of a few images that I took while playing around with an infrared filter that I bought during my trip to California last October. I only spent a brief amount of time reading about shooting with one of these filters before getting out and trying it, and as such, forgot about a few things, such as setting a custom white balance before starting shooting. Even though I didn’t follow through with all the steps that you should be doing, I am still happy with the results; editing just took a bit longer than it would have otherwise.
I am excited for spring to arrive and have the chance to get the filter out and work with it some more. I don’t think infrared images of snowy fields and trees would have much impact!
Wishing everyone a great week ahead.
2019-03-03: Topic of the month – Signs of Spring
This week I have really been trying to look for signs of spring. Honest, I have. But waking up today, the temperature was -29C with a high of -12C for the day, and it really does feel like spring is far away. I have noticed a few things though. I can see about a 6″ band of shingles on the roof of my house, from the days when it has been warm enough for a bit of melt to happen. I noticed one lone willow tree, buried in about 4 feet of snow drift at the side of the road, starting to bud (despite the cold in was enveloped in). But mostly, I have noticed the trees.
It has been stark white for a very long time in my back yard, and over the past two weeks, between the strong winds and the the (slightly) warming days, the evergreens have shed the huge cloaks of snow from their branches. There are still bits of snow tucked into the crook of branches here and there, but finally when I look out my windows, I see a bit of green, rather than just white.
Pictures of bare branches in my backyard seemed a bit boring, but frankly, getting all bundled up to do a photo walk this weekend also didn’t hold much appeal. So I went out for a short time to photograph some of the birds feasting on the sunflower seeds. Today, only the chickadees were around, though usually there is a pair of red-breasted nuthatches plus the woodpeckers that pass through. The chickadees made a steady stream from branch to feeder and back again; I couldn’t count them all as they were constantly coming in from every direction.
As a bird lover, one of the sad parts about the temperature warming is soon the birds will have to fend for themselves, once it warms enough for there to be a threat of bears visiting the feeders. I think we have a ways to go before that is an issue though.
Here are a few chickadees for today; fingers crossed next weekend there are more signs of spring around.
2019-02-27: Wordless Wednesday
2019-02-24: Topic of the Month – Warm
When I woke up this morning, it was -28C; decidedly not warm here. But the sun is shining, and bundled up, Spencer and I managed a couple of nice walks today. It still doesn’t feel like spring is around the corner; but hopefully that will change soon.
Last week, I flagged several landscape images from my travels for editing throughout the week, and while working on them, I realized that not only do they all fit into the theme of being taken in warm places, but they were all taken on the fly. If I asked guides to stop every time I saw something interesting, we certainly wouldn’t get very far, so I have become rather comfortable with snapping away out of a moving vehicle. Sometimes it works, and sometimes, not so much.
I hope you enjoy my selection of images this week.
2019-02-20: Wordless Wednesday
