| Thursday, February 26, 2015 |
| Winter Blues and Grays |
Every winter I think the same thing: I will photograph more, stay inside less, be extra creative in a number of genres, you get the idea. And then we come to the end of February. Everyone I know is angry at the groundhog and over-tired from all the gray and wet. Or all the white and wet, depending. We did have an inch or two of snow earlier this week. The storm that brought more snow to our south and north just dumped more cold, northeast-driven rain on us overnight and today. Rumor has it the sun might shine tomorrow and into the weekend though high temperatures are still forecast to be only in the 30s for a couple more days. Then by Monday the rain socks in again and lasts most of next week.
I did get out for a couple hours in the snow on Tuesday. Honestly, I’ve been desperate for some time outside. I took a walk a day or so before on the back side of Jockeys Ridge and didn’t even carry my camera with me. I cheated in that I had my phone, but mostly I used the phone as a compass rather than a camera. I needed to re-orient myself, remind my heart where my true north lies, and sit and look and listen and pray and give thanks. I did all of that in a very chilly hour on the Ridge and came home much refreshed. If you have the chance to be outside without having to shovel or scrape or slog through rain puddles, I highly recommend it. About a week ago, I spent a good part of the afternoon waiting for a raft of Redhead Ducks to lift off from the pond behind the Bodie Island lighthouse. They finally did, at sunset. In the meantime I enjoyed watching Pintails and the company of a videographer, Ron Marchand, who films for the local wildlife refuges and is quite a knowledgeable birder.
Some of the snow images, along with a few from earlier in the month, are below. I’d say “enjoy” but most folks I know are sick of snow scenes. Maybe snow coupled with a lighthouse or dunes will cheer my northern readers up a bit. If not, perhaps my sunset skies over sea or ducks-ducks-geese will do that. Meanwhile, be well and warm.
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click for larger image | Snowy Dunes. I used a small f/stop for maximum depth of field. I usually slightly underexposein bright sun with a lot of white (snow, waves, birds) as my Nikon tends to blow out highlights. But here I had to brighten the snow on a gray day. |
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click for larger image | I'm always looking for the different angle or perspective. Last winter I photographed the Light and Keeper's house from both sides. This year I wanted to show the Light through the pines in the snow. |
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click for larger image | The Pintails were fun to watch. Several drakes competed for the attention of this single female. |
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click for larger image | One drake in particular seemed to think he was the favorite and kept trying to chase the others away. |
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click for larger image | At sunset, the large raft of Redhead Ducks began to lift off and fly north in loose groups. They weren't leaving for the season, just headed to roost elsewhere overnight. |
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posted by eturek at 7:49 PM |
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