Truant

[vaneramos]

This morning I paid my first visit to the Eramosa River since January 13. The storm of January 27 and subsequent week of heavy snow has transformed the landscape but today my eye and camera were mostly drawn upward.



I have been afraid to use my camera's close-up feature because it draws so much battery charge, an extravagance I couldn't afford. In fact I used it so rarely I had convinced myself it didn't work, but it does. The new rechargeables have set me free to experiment, with pleasing results. The rest of today's posted images were taken using the close-up switch.



It is a pleasant day with temperatures around freezing and softly falling snow. If winter stayed like this, I would be content.



I have described and photographed the dolostone cliff at close range before, but usually it is invisible from a distance. Now that the maple woods has dropped its leaves and the ground is heavily snow-covered, the rock face is revealed. The following image shows where the river forms an invisible boundary between the open field in the foreground and the line of trees beyond. The cliff forms a dark band below the crest of the ridge. This is one of my favourite places to hike.



Finding nice lichen to photograph always makes me think of avad. Today was one of those days. One image is posted in iamthelorax, and a closer view in texture.

Comments

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

it's 55F here right now. sad, really, considering
there's supposed to be 6 more weeks of winter. but
this is the desert! great pictures as always.
i want to get rechargeable batteries!~paul

Re:

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Well my friends who just got home from Tucson sure enjoyed the break, probably from the snow and cold, but particularly from the gloom. You might be interested in seeing the images bitterlawngnome has posted in his journal this week.

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[poetbear.livejournal.com]

right before this picture was taken, i lived in
Willcox, about an hour Northeast of Tucson.
he takes great pictures!~paul

[le-lapin.livejournal.com]

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[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Many thanks. Glad you dropped by. Best wishes on your adventures!

[susandennis]

Beautiful!! Especially the stalagtites against the brick!!! That has to be a puzzle.

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[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Oooo yes!

Really like the landscape with snowfall

[ranjtheobscure.livejournal.com]

And you just gotta have rechargeables. I carry 3 with both my cameras whenever I leave the house.

BTW -- The Pentax Optia S is not a bad camera. That is not even considering its insanly small size. It has some softness in the portrait range, but the macro shots are crazy good and the fact that I can carry it anywhere means I do, if you get my drift.

Some have said the batteries are scant, but they perform fine compared to a fuji finepix 4900. The Fuji has it beat in zoom, but the built in mike and SD card memory make it a better all around beast for me.

http://65.64.114.185/pictures03-04/01-04/01-10-04N/AvailLIghtShot-Garrets-01-10-04A.jpg

Shot in a bathroom under available light... Note the massive camera.

Re: Really like the landscape with snowfall

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Wow, I really appreciate this info, Ranj. I won't be able to afford a better camera for a while, but I'm putting this in memories for later reference when the time comes to decide what I want. Thanks a lot! Nice pic. :-)

working my way up the ladder

[ranjtheobscure.livejournal.com]

I have had maybe ten digital cameras in the
100-200 range, but they just didn't have the ability to hang with the high impact lifestyle pre stroke.

Now, as a cyclist with some balance problems, the high impact factor is a bit more literal.

You will someday be unable to resist the urge, and judging from the tonal and value range in the compositions you like, that day probably not be all that far off.

What camera were these shot with BTW?

Re: working my way up the ladder

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It is a Kodak DX3500. Point and shoot.

Re: working my way up the ladder

[ranjtheobscure.livejournal.com]

I think mine was a DX 3400, if my feeb memory serves me correctly.

I did the pictures in
http://65.64.114.185/Personal/katyjournal2.htm
this page with it.

Re: working my way up the ladder

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Interesting; there is a remarkably familiar quality to those photos.

I miss my old Canon AE-1, but this camera has taught me some things about seeing.

[bluebellrock.livejournal.com]

I thought I knew icicles from 6 months in Wisconsin but that photo is sheer icicle MADNESS! I now know I didn't know a thing. As beautiful as ever, Van...

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[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thank you. The icicles are extravagant, even for here.

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[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It was a perfect day for them to form, overcast with the temperature around freezing. The warmth of the house melts the snow on the roof, it runs down, overflows the gutter, then freezes in the air.

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

I see Guelph gets the non-Euclidean wind-formed icicles as well. (The ones on our house are always startling--I have to pat the house to reassure myself that it's the icicles that are listing, not the house.)

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[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

We have a lot like that around here right now, also a few shaped like curtains, but I couldn't get a good photo of one.