Do You Want Ice With That?

This is the other ice storm photograph that I liked from yesterday.  I like that it is a more complex landscape, with a foreground and middleground and background.  Only thing is, you can't see the ice on the trees unless you click on the image and enlarge it.  Then you can begin to see the ice on the branches. I do like the overall gray feeling to it, but it is not a really "graphic" composition - which to me means some powerful graphic shape or element that stands out.  Without the dark shapes in the foreground, I don't think there would be a photograph at all. Just maybe this picture is better than I first thought.

A Gentle Ice Storm

I learned something interesting today.  I went out for a walk with my camera because I had seen some trees with a light coating of ice on them, backlit by the sun, when I was out in the car.  Simple picture to take, right?  Well, I walked around for an hour, and photographed a lot of trees backlit by the sun, and realized that it was nearly impossible to show the bright sparkle of the ice. What a disappointment. I realized there was a problem right away, so tried photographing other things, and this shot works well.  The branches are coated in ice, but they are front-lit, and there are some clumps of snow in the branches as well.  I did do one other shot I like, so I may post it tomorrow.

No Wind

On the way to New Haven the other day, when driving through Bridgeport, Connecticut, I spied this unusual cloud of smoke in the sky.  This is the coal-fired United Illuminating plant on the harbor in Bridgeport.  So I started thinking about what might cause this, and realized that there was not a hint of wind blowing, so the smoke was rising straight up from the red and white striped stack.  I don't remember ever seeing this before. It makes for an interesting shape in the sky.

Uncle Neil And The Dog

This is Neil, my brother-in-law, who lives in Connecticut.  His grandson is in the hospital in New Haven and is on the mend, happy to say.  Connor is a brilliant kid with so many friends.  They have all brought him all kinds of things, like this wonderful stuffed dog, during his time there, and since he is moving from the ICU, some of this stuff needs to be brought home.  Neil said he would help, and I suggested that I thought he should carry this wonderful dog!  So he agreed!  Oh man, another set up picture!  It still makes me smile.  He is such a good sport!

It Snows, I Go To the Tree

I hate to bore you with my tree, but when it snows, and particularly when the snow is like frosting, the first thing I go to is "the" tree.  I photographed it from different angles, and chose this angle because the tree looks the most amazing. Be sure and click on this to see it in more detail. I wandered around some looking for other photographs, but nothing was quite as beautiful as this. The snow was heavy enough, by the way, that the bottom branches were as low as three feet to the ground!

Pre Cana Begins

It is winter, so it is time for our participation in the Pre Cana program. Pre Cana is a marriage preparation program established by the church with volunteers like us who work with couples preparing for marriage. We have 5 couples come to our home for two hours a day on four sundays. We talk about communication, conflict resolution, finances, children and other topics which we hope will be helpful to the engaged couples.  We've been doing this program for more than twenty years.  As I was listening to one of the couples talking about their relationship, I happened to notice that they were holding hands, and I loved the gentleness of how their fingers were intertwined.  I waited until the program was finished and asked if I could do a photograph, and they said yes.  So, yes, this is a "recreated" photo.

Mushroom Cloud

This is a photograph I took while wandering around looking at the ice forms down at the harbor.  It it just an interesting design to me, but it does look like a mushroom cloud.  It is interesting that there is no way to know the scale of these ice forms.  The oval shape is about 18 inches across.  I have no idea how these shapes formed, but they sure are interesting.  I did take a version of this shot, and increase the contrast so the shapes were more dramatic, but aesthetically it bothered me that I did that, so this is the more subtle version.  It is finally warming up - enough so that I am back riding my bike again, which I have missed.  And these forms will be gone on the next high tide.

I decided late in the day, to post the black and white photograph that was worked on a lot, in terms of contrast, so you could see the difference, and perhaps why I like the more subtle version above. Maybe you like this one better.