This has been a dismal winter. No snow. No freezing temps. Nothing interesting. I have hardly shot a thing from November to February. My lawn is bare. So frustrating and uninspiring.
But on the last day of December we had a lovely frost –
It was, I think, the only time I went out with the camera in December.
And finding a spot to shoot in was funny. There was a TON of frost right on the side of the road, but the couple of trails I tried at first had basically none. And they were quite close to the road, too. Then I parked and stopped at what is a boring trail to walk to get down to the river, but it had plenty of frosty goodness.
The light was even and the sun broke through just a tiny bit, but most importantly, the air was pretty calm; a little breeze, but light and not constant. So I could set up for stacks. Most of them had to be done manually by touching the back screen at different focus points when the plant was still, but I think they work pretty well. This is an aster and oh it was lovely.
This last one is almost funny, like a Tim Burton creation or maybe Dr. Seuss. So full of character with those drooping leaves and swaybacked posture. Plus the background works. All of these were taken in tangles of small trees, bushes and flowers so getting one isolated enough to throw that background in the far distance was tough, but a few presented themselves.
By the time I was done, my toes were cold. I was only out for two hours, but when you’re just basically standing doing nothing that’s to be expected. I got to try out a battery-powered hand warmer that my husband gave me for Christmas. It was great. Not only does it warm your bare hands, but it gets hot enough that you can feel it through gloves, even my winter Vallerret gloves. Plus it’s so beautifully sculptured that it’s a pleasure to hold, which makes sense for a hand warmer.
So as I write this in February, all our snow is basically melted. A few patches persist in shady areas, but it’s gone. No ice on the river either. Just too warm. So I will see if I can dredge some old photos for new blog posts coming up, but things may go quiet here for a bit so don’t worry. As someone so famously said, I’ll be back.
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