Winter marches on...

I was in Toronto last week and the temperature broke 10°C. You could see brown grass. Not here!

When I woke up this morning it was -28° and it's warmed up to -9° at 3:00pm. The sun is shining through broken clouds and everything is covered with a blanket of fresh white snow — we got about 10cm (4") yesterday. There was also a brief freezing rain the other day so the trees are coated with crystallized ice. It's really beautiful out so you may ask, why no pictures?

Well because I'm trying to get past this nasty flu that I picked up somewhere. I ventured out today to clear the snow (and my snowblower broke. Bad, this time I'm afraid!), bundled up really warm and I have to admit I enjoyed it, but my congested lungs did not.

A couple of days ago, I had to go into Minden, to drop something off at the post office and because I ran out of Advil. Now there's a spot on Highway 35 where you're driving directly into the setting sun, so oncoming traffic, trucks more so, are surrounded by a backlit halo of white spray. Every time I see it, I want to stop and try to take some pictures, and I gave into temptation. So there I stood, outside the car, in -10° C or lower temperatures, alternatively hacking away, wiping my runny nose, and hoping a Northbound truck would appear. I was there for almost half an hour, waiting for the sun to peek out. Probably not wise, given how I'm hacking and coughing.

I did NOT get the shot I pictured in my mind. I wanted spray coming up, backlighting... but I did get this one. I have a less extreme version of it but I really like how this looks like a painting.

By the way, I did NOT get the dog I pictured last week. Someone else adopted her. Also I'm missing the camera club outing to Niagara Falls this weekend due to this flu but i rebooked the hotel for mid-February so I'll get there.

TTFN...

— 30 —

I'm so ashamed!

Hi, my name is Glenn.

"Hi, Glenn"!

I'm a blog-a-holic. And it's been 34 days since I Blogged. I'm so ashamed.

I could tell you how busy I've been (I've been busy!), how I've been focusing on other things (I've been focusing on other things), how life has thrown me a few curve balls (life has... you know) but in reality, I haven't been motivated for the longest time.

It's winter, coming into spring. You know, that time when the earth renews itself, when animals come out of hibernation, where the days start to get longer and warmer... SO WHEN'S THAT GOING TO START?

There are a few exceptions. This roadside rock formation gave birth
to an Ice sculpture with that blue colour one normally associates with
icebergs.

Truth be told, this is the ugliest time of year. That crisp, white snow is caked with mud; the trees are naked, the earth is brown. the melting ice on the roof is dripping down in the house. Yuk. But OK, we got through it! I went for a walk on a muddy country road without putting on gloves or a hat, I did shoot a few pictures, the creative juices are starting to flow again.

That said, I'm lying. Just a little. I have been doing some stuff over the past several weeks, not the least of which was to attend Hilarie's Pixel Painting Workshop 10 days ago, and, well, I've added another brush to my palette, another tool to my chest. Throughout the course I kept bemoaning the fact that I'm not an artist. Several people challenged me on that but I still think I'm not one. I did manage to create a couple of images that I like, here's one:

Mountain Man. Created by painting on top of an existing image,
using Photoshop and Corel Painter 11

The course was an eye opener. There are other things in life than sharp focus. And as I read somewhere and have said before, photography is all about what you put INTO the picture; painting is about what you leave OUT. So if you have a photo that would be great except for the background, then when you create it as a painting, DON'T INCLUDE THE BACKGROUND!

Anyway, I was out shooting a few pictures today, a different technique so I don't know how they're going to come out. I'll share them in the next Blog. For today, I'll add a couple of images I took a few weeks ago, of people ice fishing on 12 mile Lake.

Portable Ice Hut. It was really chilly out but nice and warm
inside, despite the fact that there was no floor.

It was already starting to thaw. In fact, most of the ice fishing huts had been brought in for the season. These guys were being quite careful how and where they walked.

Not this guy, though. He blithely drove his truck out on the ice, through foot-deep puddles of water. Apparently there was about two feet of ice thickness, even on a warm day like this one.

Allow me to leave you with one more image. I was asked to shoot some photos at Humber College, some detail shots of a new straight truck they had in their training program. While I was at it, I shot a 5-shot burst and created an HDR image. I shouldn't post it before I clean it up completely, but... here it is