Blog Archives
COLD !!
Friends, i saw this at Crex when the full moon rose in the late afternoon, but it took two layers to show it to you. The Bald Eagle was the bottom layer with the moon added on top. This is a photograph of the feelings that at times inspire a artful approach. The moon and the eagle are in a very cold light against the pure blue sky and the temperature outside was also cold.So this morning a cold start to your day. til Tomorrow MJ
Hardy Snipe
Friends, this hardy Snipe is still hanging around on the icy edges of a pond that has not closed up yet, but the temperature this morning was only 9 degrees above zero Fahrenheit, so the water will soon close. Hope he gets his breakfast and hurries on his way south, it is not healthy to stay too long. Below is another image of him enjoying the bitter cold sunshine, he was holding up his foot trying to warm it under his body. Enjoy the sun while you can, til Tomorrow MJ
Missy Muskrat
Friends, the morning this was taken, the ice had covered the flowage and this little muskrat was perched on top, munching away on some vegetation that was protruding from the ice. I like the light of the evening sun. These rodents make houses of the reeds and sedges that also stick up out of the ice. They say that the height of these houses predicts the snow fall depths this winter. til Tomorrow MJ
Birch Cones
Friends, more macro work, tiny cones from a birch bush, Birch have both female cones and male polen sacs, and these cones are about 1/2 inch long. I brought them indoors and lit them with flash against a gold reflector. I think the top one has a face in it, maybe the face of neptune with a beard. Getting hard to find something to photograph outside, with 16 inches of new snow, the contrast is non-existent, oh well, maybe Tomorrow MJ
Pin Feathers
Friends, today we have winter all in one shot, been short of snow all winter, now on leap day, Feb 29th, we have a foot of snow and more coming. This is another macro shot of my favorite bird feathers with the yellow shafts. This time i concentrated on the base of the shaft and the pretty pin feathers. This preparation is dry (no ice) cause a friend requested that i show the through focus technique in a dry situation. well here it is, do you like dry or ice??, I personally think that the ice gives a more saturated colors and i like the bubbles. til Tomorrow MJ
Birth of a Pine Cone
Friends, this is a macro image of a young pine cone among the needles of a white pine tree and encased in ice. As this preparation thawed, smaller bubbles appeared, not sure why that happened. but i like the detail in the small cone forming and you can start to see the scales forming on the surface. White pines have both female and male cones, but I am not sure how to differentiate them especially when they are very young. If you look closely at the needles, you can see the white lines on the needles and on White Pines the white lines are present on two sides of a three-sided needle.Can you see them, i can. til Tomorrow MJ
Remember?
Friends, thinking about traveling this morning and escaping the drab winter days of February and the upcoming winds of March. This green river was found in Yellowstone National Park but i don’t remember the name, is it important to remember the name? I do remember the feeling as i watched the water run by, of peace and joy at being out in nature on a wonderfully warm and sunny day. I wish you peace and joy, and patience while waiting for spring. til Tomorrow MJ
One of my favorite images-Trumpeter swan family
Friends, we have a few resident Trumpeter swans in Crex Meadows. This is one of the parents of seven (count em) cygnets. I was going to save this, one of my favorite images, to show you on father’s day but couldn’t wait. Must share the spring in the middle of winter, we have new snow today so looking for wild tracks will be possible. Unfortunately, i have to travel to the city to help my mother. Oh well there is always tomorrow. til Tomorrow MJ
Winter Sundogs
Friends, Sundogs are rainbows formed when ice crystals are in the air. The hexagonal ice crystals act as tiny prisms and when falling vertically oriented appear as colored patches on both sides of a low-lying sun. The cirrus and alto-cirrus clouds may also suggest ice crystals and folk lore says that sundogs form when colder weather is in store. We saw this guy in the badlands of North Dakota so i included the grasses in the foreground to show the wind, that always seems to blow in ND. til Tomorrow MJ
Tetraptych-watching snow melt
Friends, my father was easily bored after a winter of under-snowing, in other words, a winter that did not produce enough snow to ski, but too much snow to go play golf. This winter was such a winter. I remember him looking out the picture window and proclaiming that the season was “as exciting as watching snow melt”. So i made this time-lapse sequence of snow melting on an oak leaf. Since i do not want to upgrade my account to show you the video, I made this panel of four images (tetraptych) to show you the exciting winter up north. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 