Fall into Winter

 Walks  4 Responses »
Nov 112017
 

Last night in bed I heard what I thought was rain. In the morning, I saw instead it had been the sound of leaves falling as temperatures plunged below freezing. Our back yard and flower beds were covered in a carpet of gold. Not long after sunrise under overcast skies, it was too dark to take pictures. Then it began to snow.

After breakfast, I bundled up and went for a walk around the neighborhood with my camera. Still snowing, there was no wind—only quiet. Underfoot were leaves of green, yellow, and red, lightly blanketed with white. Pristine. Not yet trampled by pedestrians; just a few footprints.

Though I’d been a little disappointed at not being able to photograph my first impressions of gold, during that walk I discovered a different kind of beauty—and hope you enjoy these images.

[Click on any image to view large as a slideshow.]

Grey-blue

 Nature, Walks  No Responses »
Apr 032014
 

{click image to view large}

Stepping outside to run errands, I discovered this present on our front steps. Except for a very light touch of contrast and sharpening in post-processing, this image is as seen.

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Panasonic DMC-FZ40; 1/15 sec @ f4.4, ISO 100 (handheld);
Focal length: 82mm (460mm EFL)

Unlovely

 Nature, Walks  2 Responses »
Nov 042013
 

Unlovely ©2013 April Siegfried

Referring to her nineteen month old toddler, Alexandra Horowitz writes: “He was blessed with the ability to admire the unlovely. Or, I should say, he was blessed with the inability to feel that there is a difference between lovely and un-.”—On Looking, Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes

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Nikon D300; 1/45 sec @ f11, ISO 2500 (handheld);
18-200 mm f/3.5–5.6 @ 75mm (112mm EFL)

Grace Note

 Nature  3 Responses »
Nov 222009
 

Gracenote (c)2009 by April Siegfried

Color swatch green Color swatch brown Color swatch yellow [¹]

Our neighbors have a beautiful holly bush with rich red berries against glossy green leaves. I couldn’t help but think, “Holiday card!” Concerns about the sun getting high, and setting up a tripod near their front porch early on a Sunday morning, suggested a hand held combination of lenses I’ve not worked with in quite a while: 18-200mm VR zoom with a Canon 500D Closeup Lens and (thin) polarizing filter.

Nothing much resulted from photographing the holly, but that did point the way to other possibilities on this mild, clear day with no wind. Think bokeh! 🙂

I’ll try the holly bush again after a snowfall. Cliché, sure; but a challenge to do well. As a fellow-photographer once said, “It will be my holly.”

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¹Colors of the day:

  • Green R:67 G:64 B:20
  • Brown R:140 G:86 B:46
  • Yellow R:203 G:164 B:110

First Frost

 Nature  4 Responses »
Nov 122009
 

First Frost (c)2009 by April Siegfried

Color swatch blue Color swatch green Color swatch white [¹]

This morning I visited a nearby bird and butterfly sanctuary—my new favorite place to photograph—and it was a treat to discover frost on the ground. (Click on the image to view a larger size.)

Lesson of the day: remember to switch Image Stabilization back on when removing the camera from the tripod to shoot handheld. 😛

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¹Colors of the day:

  • Blue R:118 G:138 B:143
  • Green R:127 G:136 B:114
  • White R:185 G:196 B:209

“Just Show Up”

 Nature  10 Responses »
Nov 012009
 

A photograph of a single autumn leaf on a twig above a blurred background of fallen leaves.

Color swatch yellow Color swatch green Color swatch brown [¹]

“Just show up!”, said Craig Tanner during a photography workshop last year. Sounds simple enough. Yet those three words have stayed with me ever since, because it’s not always easy and has many levels of meaning.

In another workshop two years ago, Freeman Patterson said he still makes it a point to photograph every single day—as a concert pianist will practice scales.

“Just show up” is my plan for the month of November: to photograph, process and post an image here, every day.

I hope you’ll join me and share your experience with daily photo projects in the comment section: tips, revelations, and links to your project sites are all welcome!

For inspiration, three links to other “daily” projects I’ve been following:

  • Andreas Manessinger—3 years and going strong
  • Ed-K—has posted an image to his site every day for five years!
  • SoFoBoMo (Solo Photo Book Month)—”A group event where a bunch of photographers all make solo photo books start to finish, in 31 days, at more or less the same time.”

Plus André Gallant, who is my inspiration for the “November” challenge with a series of some of the most beautiful photographs I have ever seen.

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¹ Colors of the day extracted using ColorSuckr. Though the name is funky, it did a nice job on this image from within Firefox as an add-on.

  • Yellow R:210 G:182 B:96
  • Green R:124 G:128 B:94
  • Brown R:104 G:80 B:49