1st Snow-12-7-17

We had our first serious snow the other night and day ... maybe 11-12 inches ... it was wonderful.

Susan as we leave for a walk ... it was snowing rather delightfully

Monk ??

The neighbors yard behind our house has a monkish looking figure under one of their bushes. I don't know what it is but rather like it and a while ago i took some photos with the long lens out the attic window. Its pretty b&w out there right now except for some bright red leaves on a bush that hasn't fallen off yet.

I like seeing the figure each time i look out the back of the house.

Ice Highlights

Frozen ice highlights

Ice

We had our first real freeze, 27ºF, last night which put some nifty ice and ice bubbles in a planter bottom tray. It took some playing with shots to realize that the DOF was so shallow that i had to shoot directly over the bubble i wanted or i couldn't get it in focus even with stacking. These four shots were a surprise as the bubble i was shooting burst after the third shot, leaving a collar of mini-bubbles where the large one was:

The bubble, all the bubbles, were moving, some slowly some quickly. It hadn't occur to me that the bubble would burst or i would have tried to catch it in bursting action. Still, it left a nice ring behind.

Empty yard

Waiting for a bus the other day, i realized i was standing in from of a yard, with steps, that had never been completed and there was just an empty yard where a house would usually be. It was sorta neat.

There is a highly decorated shed at the back of the lot

Standing at the top of the steps

I walked up to the design and while i like it, i'm not able to read it; can you?

Backyard Trees

Trees ... they're amazing, no matter what time of the year:

Mineral Mine

On the way back from the Inn north of us, we stopped to visit a mineral mine. From the late 1800's to the mid 1900's, feldspar was mined here and is the main ingredient in Bon Ami, a non-scratching cleanser. Today the mine is flooded and not accessible and i was disappointed that i wasn't able to actually enter a mine shaft. Except for the first view below which is just inside what use to be the mine entrance -but now all blocked off- there's not much sense of a mine having been here except the grounds are filled with old mining equipment of which i didn't take any photos.

It was very sunny and the light reflecting on the water inside the overhang gave it a very bright look.

From the outside it looked like this:

They did have a 'company store' that was interested. Set up as they use to be in the 1880's, etc., it was a walk thru much like a museum - actually, exactly like a museum which was what it was.

Colorful Hills

That's interesting, sorta. Am using two monitors side-by-side and the image above (the one you'll see) is nowhere near as bright nor colorful as the one on the monitor on which i work on the photos. Humm ... would love to read some feedback from you about how these are for you to look at. However, if you are looking at this on a smart phone, feedback is not so useful as the image will be much too small for any kind of detail which doesn't mean you can't enjoy them-please do.

Basil Blooms

When basil begins to bolt, it grows cute little blooms at the top of the stem. While for regular basil and purple for purple basil. I had want to so some macro work with the purple blooms this year but waited a bit too long and the blooms began to brown - sorry.

Colors

Spent the last couple of days in the mountains 'tween Boone and Blowing Rock, about twice the altitude of Asheville which is 2211' where we live. The colors were pretty good but there had been a very big storm as we drove there and i'm guessing that half the leaves were blown off the trees, maybe more. So the colors, though beautiful, were somewhat sparsely distributed across the hills and mountains. Still, it was worth the trip.

Looking east from BR Parkway

Blowing Rock mini-park

Colors in them-there hills

and on the farm

Baby Preying Mantis

Yesterday morning, as i went to put the grill cover on from having used the grill the night before, i saw at the last moment before i pull the cover down that there was a struggling greenish insect on the side top. So i stopped and looked closer at the insect -it was really really small, maybe 1/2 an inch in length- which was struggling to move. I decided this was a good opportunity to photograph a close shot. Racing upstairs i gather the equipment i'd need and returned to find the insect had move about 3-4 inches but hadn't left. Upon viewing the insect thru the lens i saw it was a baby preying mantis. At first i thought it was struggling 'cause it had grease on it from the not-yet-cleaned surface of the grill but watching it a bit longer i saw that it was newly hatched and just learning how to move. It kept wiping it head with the front legs while it dragged itself across the top. In the meantime i'm trying to take photographs that are in focus and knowing that there was no way to get anything other then a very minimum of its body in focus as i didn't have any flash equipment with me so only had natural light to shoot with. At one point i saw that its left eye, the one closes to me, was possible to photograph relatively sharply and so i took a picture. As i watched she clearly was struggling to fly away so i put my finger down and it climbed on and i put the finger in front of the camera with the idea of taking a photograph but when i finally got my finger into focus, she was gone.

For a few minutes i think i was in love.

For a few minutes she left me a bit breathless ... then she left!

Bugatti Royale

Love 'em:

Coin from Mulhause, FR

for auto museum

Bugatti Royale

Red

Red

Nope, don't know their name ... bought them a few months ago and they have tripled in size - very hardy and gorgeously red.

Weather

We are in the mountain fall  -and what do i know never having lived in eastern mountains before now-  and the sky seems to be different every half hour.

Yesterday morning

then, this morning

And i'm lovin' it! How could one not ... now, as i write this, the sun is shinning and the temp is moving into the 80's and the clouds that are in the sky are off in the distance over the mountains.

Recent macros, the spring from a pressure gage:

Posing, a portrait

Rarely do i get someone to pose so well and upright, so i thought i'd post this after our session earlier this morning:

More

Crossing the kitchen and looking out the porch window i was the sun just inching above the horizon. Fortunately my camera was sitting on a tripod at the window. Clicking the shoot button and a bit of play with NIK gave me a morning image that i like. I've struggled with all the electrical lines in the photo when shooting sunrises and decided they work fine in this stylized image.

Lately, as a result of having joined a on-line macro club, i've been shooting more bugs/insects then i usually do. This small, about 1 1/2"- caterpillar was crawling around my the porch chair. He was moving way too fast for me to get a photo of his head which was what i wanted to do. I moved the chair, got everything set (the camera was on a tripod and using a 60mm Macro lens) for the arrival and still - no head shot! And, i haven't been able to id the caterpillar yet. If you know its name, type or anything about it would you please leave word in the comments section below - thanks.

On the other hand -other lens?- i got a couple of really good shoots a weekend ago on a local garden walk in the West Asheville area:

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

Asian Lady Bug

I try to regularity return to macro work; ie, at least 1:1 if not larger. When i was at a friends house a week ago she had some glass balls filled with colors and shapes - an idea subject to play with macro photographically. So far i've only come up one with one that i like which is this:

 This is the one that i working with currently. The ball is not green glass, that is the color casted by the green rubber that the ball is sitting on (a Lazy Susan which i bought at a kitchen supply store - i allows me to move the subject easily) ... i put white paper under the ball when shooting.

This is what i've come up with so far. For a first effort its not so bad and it is just a beginning.

 This will be my next color to work with.