Happy New Year!

Stoaty likes to post “a picture of the last light of the year on New Year’s Eve,” but I’m generally a morning person, so I like to shoot the first light of the new year.

I didn’t get out for a proper shoot this year, because I was geared up for snow removal (from a storm that didn’t materialize). So I cheated. I just stepped outside my door and took some quick snapshots of the high school across the street in silhouette, and then of the snow-bound football field. The brief exposure to the 5-degree temperature numbed my fingers and made ‘em hurt like heck when they started to thaw.

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Deering High School at dawn on the first day of 2009

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Deering High School football field, imprisoned behind a chain-link fence on the first day of 2009

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Deering High, a closer look

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The other day, I found a link to one of those sites that “rate” your blog for you. This one came out as a “G,” I think, with a note that one post had used the word “shoot” once. I dunno how to talk about photography without using the word “shoot,” nor do I want to. Strange that a normal activity, like shooting (whether with a camera or weapon), could be the cause of concern to some. More PC intrusion in our lives.

Shoot.

This Is What’s Been Happening

Winter. In all its ugly, homicidal dreariness. It’s been a long, snowy one here, and every year my ability to cope with it diminishes.

Across the street, for the last two weeks, they’ve been working at clearing the snow off the new plastic athletic field. The huge price tag on it was justified by the claim that it would be used almost non-stop by various groups; now the crews are out desperately trying to make the field live up to the hype.

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Snow removal on Memorial Field

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Less than half the field cleared in almost 2 weeks. If we luck into some really warm weather, it might be ready for use sometime in April.

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Snow removal as seen from ground level

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Thanx for asking, Joan. You may see me next month as I roll by on my way to the Gulf. I need to thaw out before next winter strikes, around the middle of August.

Happy New Year!

Ok, I got lazy this morning and asked other people to choose which images from this morning’s shoot I should post. Here they are, with a minimum of comment, because another storm is moving in and I gotta finish my errands before the snow flies.

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Fort Allen Park at Dawn

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ditto

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ditto

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Fort Gorges and Lobster Boat on Casco Bay

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Fort Allen Park

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ditto

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Ooo! The colors!

I’m also too lazy to narrow it down to a reasonable amount, so y’all got a bonus today. Try not to remember all the days I didn’t post images.

I’ll Be Back…

I’m not really ignoring you. Well, I am; but not because I want to. I’ll be back eventually. In the meantime here’s something to hold you over.

Glorious, balmy April weather in Maine:

Stupid snow. Stupid brain chemistry.

Aprill Shoures…

…Maine style.

Back to the Falmouth Nature Preserve. Last time I took the Red Trail; this time I tried the Orange.

It’s late and I’m tired, so I’ll skip the chatter and give you what you want.

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Spring snow on hemlock:

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Hemlock and salt marsh in spring snowstorm:

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Old oak leaves, salt marsh, yadda yadda:

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Spring snow on last year’s beech leaves:

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The snow blower and shovel will be calling my name early tomorrow morning.

Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote…

But first the shoures have to melt.

Sepia Spring Scenic

Maine is known for its fall foliage. I kinda like the monochrome look of some other times of year. In November, after the maples and birches have had their fling, the oaks take over, giving us a palette of umbers, siennas and ochers.

In early spring (otherwise known as mud season) everything has a sort of sepia look, like an old photograph. Especially on a morning like we had today, when the sun struggles to break through the overcast. Even the white pines that make this the Pine Tree State seem subdued.

This is a stream through a salt marsh in Falmouth:

This was my first trip to the Falmouth Nature Preserve. I didn’t know it was there until yesterday. I should’ve worn my crampons; I spent too much time trying to keep from planting the camera lens-down on the ice, something that brings the shoot to a sudden and expensive end. I speak from experience.

This part of the trail wasn’t bad, because it was level:

The place is obviously a large dog run. I like to try to spot what animals have been in the area, but all I saw today was dog tracks. And dog poop. And that pretty much guarantees that there’s not gonna be much in the way of wildlife.

There are little spots of color, but you have to look for them. Like this checkerberry poking up through the snow:

An interesting place. I think I’ll be visiting it again.

Spring Snow in Maine

I learned a lesson from the shoot at Bug Light the other day. I’ve been shooting my images as TIFF format, just because I’m lazy. After I get ‘em on the computer, I have to convert ‘em to jpeg format, and then resize the ones I want to post here. The problem with that is that sometimes I’m stuck with an image whose exposure is not what I want; but at that point I can’t do anything about it.

Today’s shoot was strictly RAW format. It adds several (long) steps in processing, but the advantage is that I can adjust the exposure and white balance after I get home. My back likes that: hunched over the keyboard is a lot more comfortable than bent over the tripod. Plus I’m not gonna lose the light or the subject while I’m getting the perfect exposure.

Here are a couple of examples:

This is a tidal creek at the Fore River Sanctuary in Portland after last night’s snow. I think that’s a mallard in the middle, but I can’t identify it for sure.

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Spring snow on some sort of pine. I didn’t stop to identify the species.

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The RAW files take up an awful lot of room on the memory card. I may have to invest in another, but it might be worth it.

Oh and the GIMP roolz! Take that, Winblows! That’s one less program I need to keep that crappy so-called OS around for.

Don’t Stare At The Equinox, You’ll Hurt Your Eyes

I know there are hyacinths, daffodils, tulips and croakers there. I got a glimpse of them poking their little heads up last week, before they were reburied beneath the latest weather event.

I’m supposed to be doing spring cleanup now, while the ground is still frozen. I hate it when the snow hangs around so long that spring cleanup is pushed back into mud season.

The good news? My fingers no longer hurt while practising the saxophone in an unheated outbuilding. The building is still unheated, but not as uncomfortable as when the temps were in the single digits.

Hosta La Vista, Baby.

For the last two years, I haven’t cut off the flower stems of the hostas once they’ve gone by. I kinda like the look of the brown, empty seed pods:

This is what happens when it’s wicked cold and windy, and I’m too lazy to go out and shoot something worth posting.

Snowy Footbridge

Also yesterday at the Fore River Sanctuary.