Day 290 - One Icy Day!

We had so much rain yesterday, that it was bound to freeze!  And then we had quite a big dump of snow as well.  It looked so pristine and beautiful when I looked out the window of the bus on my way home after a great lunch.  I knew I would find icicles; so, although I would rather have returned home and curled up with a nice warm blanket, a steaming cup of tea and a great book, I thought I should make use of the opportunity to take some shots of branches and leaves frozen over.

I mainly used my macro lens today, although I didn't really get too many macro shots.  I couldn't get close enough to the subjects through the piles of snow, and thus I had to settle for close-ups instead of macro.

Some of the images turned out a little grainy as I had to hand-hold my shots for the want of a tripod (I wanted to keep things light and thus didn't bring it with me) and used an ISO of 800 in most shots, as I needed to keep a high shutter speed to avoid getting camera shake - a sure recipe for disaster, but I had to do it.

Day 283 - Out in the Snow Again

I think this week's theme will be snow!  That will also force me to go out and get some fresh air everyday.

Patterns in the snow

This brave girl walked all the way on the frozen river, kicking up the snow and ice!  What courage!  I was tempted to go down there and do the same, but I remembered in good time that I would be tempting Fate, since I don't even know how to swim! 

Reaching up and reaching out?  

Day 282 - Frozen to the Bones

I went out with a friend to do some outdoor portraits as he's a very athletic guy who loves winter sports.  We wanted to capture his outdoorsy nature, but how much can you smile or click in frigid temperatures and knee-deep snow?  Going out in the middle of the afternoon with the sun right overhead didn't help matters one bit.  But we still got a few fun shots.

And this last shot is to only demonstrate how much snow we battled on location.  I wish I could also convey the extreme cold in some way, but alas, you might as well just take my word for it!

Day 272 - Frozen at Sunset

Not just the river, but also my fingers!  I always pick the wrong day for staying out.  It was freezing cold at - 22 deg Celsius when I left work, but I am certain by the time I got to the pedestrian bridge next to the highway, it was much colder.  I couldn't stay out in the freezing cold for more than 20 mins or so, and that included my walk up to the bridge, which takes a good 5 - 7 mins. from the bus stop.

I will probably have to drop off the radar for the next couple of days, because I have another cooking class coming up.  However, I know I will have to do some food photographs again, so maybe I will be back sooner, who knows!

I didn't have my long lens, and I was pretty far from these giant reeds, and couldn't zoom in with my 18 - 55 mm.  Therefore, I had to compose with the taller ones silhouetted, as opposed to only the shorter backlighted ones, which was initially my plan for this image.

The river is completely frozen!  I loved the reflections of the setting sun on the icy parts.

Day 222 - Frozen

We had buckets of snow this morning and I was itching to go out.  However, consideration for my camera kept me indoors while the snow came gliding down in huge flakes - like bits of fluffy cotton.

I looked out of the window and saw some kids with their siblings and parents building snowmen and snow castles.  I don't know what I was thinking when I asked my son if he wanted to go out and do that with his friends.  The answer was of course an expected "NO! Why would I want to do that?!  I play in the snow on schooldays!"  So much for trying to get him to go out.

So, once it stopped snowing, I picked up my gear and left to go to the riverside, hoping to find some birds.  I carried bird seeds in my pocket, and was worried that the poor creatures were going to be hungry since they couldn't really go out foraging in this miserable weather.  As expected, however, I hardly saw any birds, except a few chickadees, and another warbler-like bird that I saw vaguely, but couldn't get a proper shot of.  So, I scattered some seeds around the place and moved on.  Maybe they found them and fed their hungry selves?

I was out for an hour and a half, until the wind started to pick up and it started to drizzle.  There was freezing rain in the forecast, and I didn't want to be out in that, and neither wanted to damage my camera.  So, I just stashed everything into my bag and beat a quick retreat.  

Here are some shots from the afternoon:

208 mm, f/7.1, 1/50s, ISO 800, Manual Mode, AWB

Didn't really get a good shot of the chickadee which was sitting high up on this tree, quite a distance away

250 mm, f/8.0, 1/60s, ISO 1600, Manual Mode, AWB, Flash fired at -1 stop to add fill light and freeze the swaying branch as there was a lot of wind

208 mm, f/8.0, 1/60s, ISO 1600, Manual Mode, AWB

90 mm, f/2.8, EV +1, 1/100, ISO 400, AWB, Shutter Priority, Flash fired at -1 stop to freeze the motion as there was a lot of wind

146 mm, f/5.6, 1/30s, Manual Mode, ISO 100, Flash fired at -1 stop