Birds' Snow Day

This little guy graced my patio today perhaps seeking refuge. Just outside my patio door this morning sits a fresh "new" layer of snow right at five inches and it's still coming down. I opened the blinds this morning to discover a snowburst. Big huge flakes coming down, fast and hard. Wow! You have to realize in Louisville, south of the Ohio River, we seldom get a lot of snow. Perhaps we'll get one to two snowfalls a year and those might be one to four inches. However, right across the Ohio River in southern Indiana, they will receive 3-4 sometimes more snowfalls and usually twice as many inches. Something about the river valley I guess normally shields Louisville. So getting all of this snow in January and February this year is a little unusual.

Steve at http://shootingmyuniverse.blogspot.com told me a few weeks ago that winter was just settling in. Steve, I believe you now! Normally in February you'll start to see sprouts of spring in the later weeks. Perhaps not this year.

On another note, I wasn't feeling the love for the new header I posted so I'm experimenting. Hang in there until I find my creative happiness. Enjoy!

Cabin Fever

It snowed Friday night, late in the night, and early Saturday morning. It was a wet snow that clung to all of the trees, bushes, shrubs and lawns. Beautiful is the first word I thought of when I proceeded to open the blinds Saturday morning and discovered a "white winter wonderland". Kentucky received various levels of snowfall from south Louisville getting perhaps 1-2 inches and southern Indiana receiving 2-4. I've posted little this week as I have been hold up in my condo becoming intimately familiar with several boxes of Kleenex tissues.

I managed to get some work done this week, though for the life of me I can't remember much about it. Not to worry, I keep a Day Planner if for no other readon because at my age, I'm past my forties, no way I'm going to trust my memory. Should I ever get rid of this creeping crude that has taken me over, I'll surely be back to my usual self. In the meantime I just might have a mild case of cabin fever going on. And if that should turn out to be the case, someone get me out of here!

Leftovers, Bernheim

During my walk a few weeks ago I discovered various leftovers from Fall hanging around. The leaves from the trees are so beautiful in the summer in their green splendor and even more glorious in Fall in their shades of red, rust, orange, yellow and browns. I felt it appropriate to show you a few of the leftovers least we forget the beauty they brought into our lives for a short time. Enjoy!

Brown County, Indiana

Here in Kentucky we are the proud recipients of several more inches of beautiful white snow. However, I'm posting a collage I put together of images from Nashville, Indiana, a quaint little arts and crafts village located in central Indiana, which I posted about back in the summer of 2009. Why am I posting this summertime image having just received another significant snowfall, you might ask me? Because while I love snow, and I do, don't get me wrong, I think I've about had my "fill" of winter. Please let spring sprout soon, I plead to the weather Gods. Enjoy!

Fir Tree, Bernheim Arboretum

Just a pic I took while at Bernheim recently. I love fir trees and just about any tree with unusual bark. I have no idea why. They just intrigue me. It's supposed to snow here tonight but I haven't seen a flake yet. On the radar it appears its all around me which means shortly I should see a snowflake. I do know Kentucky is getting pounded farther south as is a great deal of many other Southern states. Perhaps I'll have photos of the snow later this weekend. For those of you who don't like snow or get far too much of it, sorry but I love snow. Enjoy!

A Gaggle, Bernheim

Bottoms up!

The squawker!

Brrr!

A gaggle of Canadian Geese were having a high old time at the lake at Bernheim last weekend while I was visiting there. Enjoy!

Silos, Bernheim

These two silos sitting next to the small stage and nature area in Bernheim are so cool looking so I decided to post a photo for you to see. Obviously, they are left over from Bernheims farming days. I tried to find some historical reference about them online but came up blank. Enjoy!

Nature's Postcard

While on my trek this weekend at Bernheim Forest, I photographed many of the patterns I found in the branches and leaves, and well, everywhere I looked and put a little postcard together to show you what I discovered along my walk. Visiting an arboretum in the wintertime is truly a treat. Enjoy!

Winter's Light, Bernheim

The sun tried, not very successfully I might add, to peek out between the clouds yesterday at Bernheim Forest & Arboretum, but didn't quite make it. These two images I photographed as the sun attempted to make a show. I love the blues of winter skies. They have a demure quality, not quite that bright baby blue you see in summer. If you look closely, you will catch the glimpses of last winter's ice storm as it obviously took out some of the branches on the right side of this beautiful stately tree. The second image is looking out towards the lake. Just to the left were a gaggle of Canadian Geese which I got a few pics of and will poster later. I honestly didn't like winter nearly as much, until I started visiting Bernheim and Mustatatuck in central Indiana during the winter months. The things you see in winter that you don't see most times of the year are abundant. So I guess I'm advising all to get out and walk and look around you this winter. Enjoy!

Jared Sutton who follows my blog requested the bridge image from yesterday in black and white, and well, I just had to give it a try. I'm torn as to which one I like so you guys decide for me. Thanks for your support Jared. Enjoy!

Bernheim in Winter

Bernheim Forest & Arboretum can be an interesting place to visit during winter. The pine cones hanging off the trees, and strewn across the ground, various shapes and sizes of berries, the trees with all their leaves gone show their unique shapes. The best part of my trip today, upon getting out of my car, I immediately smelled pine cones. Oh, how I love that smell. I shot a few photos of Bernheim in winter today which I'll share with you this week. I hope you enjoy them. Come visit Bernheim if you get to Kentucky. This is the bridge that crosses the lake on the far side of the arboretum. Enjoy!

The Making Of A Photographer . . .

This is a story about when I first noticed light, subject, composition in a photograph. And how I later became a photographer.

I received a Pentax SLR as a birthday present one year. One summer, I was visiting at my sister's house and had brought my camera along. While standing in her back yard with my camera in hand, I noticed some crab apples on one of her trees. So I took several photos at different angles of these crab apples hanging on that crab apple tree. Several days later I dropped the film off at the camera shop and several days after I got the prints back. I thumbed through all of the images until I got to the images of the crab apples. I thought to myself how great looking those crab apples looked. How the light made them stand out yet there was a soft feeling to the photo too. I just loved those images of those crab apples. I would go back through the images time and time again studying the composition, the light, the setting. Then one day I got to thinking perhaps I should shoot more photos of the outdoors.

At the same time, I decided if I was going to shoot more outdoor images, I wanted to learn to shoot slide film because I noticed on professional photographers' websites they used slide film to photograph those beautiful images of the mountains and the valleys and the forests. So I bought some slide film.

At the same time I had been reading about composition and light and crafting an image. So I took my camera with my slide film and drove to the Bluegrass Region in Kentucky with its beautiful horse farms, what I today consider my backyard, literally less than an hour's drive away, and I drove up and down and up and down and up and down the byway. Time and time and time again. I would scout scenes to photograph. I would stop along the road when I saw something interesting to photograph. And I shot and I shot and I shot.

Then I bought a tripod because I noticed on those same photographers' websites they used tripods to take the vibration out of photographing an image. Again, I took my camera, my slide film and my tripod and I went back to the horse farms and I drove up and down and up and down and up and down again. And I shot and I shot and I shot again. I repeated this process many, many, many times over and over. I can't emphasize that enough. I don't recall how many rolls of slide film I went through during that time, but it was a lot.

I practiced shooting the light, crafting the image, studying what would make the best composition. And I would shoot and process the slides at my local camera store and pick them up and look at them through my loupe. I would pitch the images I didn't like. The ones with bad lighting, bad composition, just plain bad photography. And I kept the images I liked. The ones with just the right light, the perfect composition, the image that told a story. Those images I kept.

I kept up this practice for several years varying my destination. Driving to the Hocking Hills, in Ohio, driving to Mustatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, in central Indiana, driving to Clifty Falls State Park, in southern Indiana. Driving anywhere I could find a natural scene to photograph.

Until one day, a thought came to mind . . . I'm a photographer!

It has to begin somewhere and this is how it began for me. I felt compelled to share this story with you. While it is simply a story of a photographer, it's my story of how I became an outdoor photographer.

Barn, Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Lexington, Kentucky

What is it about barns? They're intriguing. I think because they come in all shapes and shapes, and all colors. Old warn barns are especially intriguing to me. This barn I photographed several years ago in the fall months when it was filled to the brim with tobacco (it's in a previous post). Now it sits with a wagon in the middle of it. This photograph was taken a few weeks ago during my trek along the Bluegrass Scenic Byway in Midway and Lexington, Kentucky. Any season, any weather, any where along the drive, you will see something to photograph. I think that's why I keep going back. It's really a nice drive and beautiful country. Enjoy!

Manchester Farms, Lexington, Kentucky

What a difference a season makes! This is Manchester Farms, snow covered, and looking a little bit cold, I might add. If you want to see this horse farm in all its beauty in the summer just take a peek at the image on my header. Like I said, what a difference a season makes. I tried to put some color in the photo, but honestly, there's not a lot of color there to work with. I took this photo while driving the scenic byway a few weeks ago the weekend after we had had about 4-5 inches of snow. It was still 20 degrees outside so needless to say, I took these images quickly. Really quickly. Brrrrrr! And just a quick side note, if you look closely, you'll notice one of the spires on the top of the barn isn't sitting upright, but is slightly bent. As I drove along the route, at some points, the spire was "reallly" bent over. So I tried my best to stop along the road where it was least noticeable. No doubt the horse farm will repair this spire, hopefully before the big day arrives this spring, "that's Derby Day" for those of you who don't know what I'm referring to. Enjoy!

Bluegrass Scenic Byway, Lexington, Kentucky

While driving the Bluegrass Scenic Byway, and winding through the Midway and Lexington, Kentucky horse farms, you will find a tree that is very predominant, the osage or osage orange tree. They stand tall with twists in their trunks and in fall bear fruit in the shape of a large green ball. You will see the osage tree standing on both sides of the road all along the byway for miles and miles winding along the road as you drive. They are beautiful and without them I don't believe the horse farm drive would be nearly as nice. I wanted to share this beautiful tree with you as it's so unique with it's "wrinkly" bark and greenish blue moss trailing up the sides of the trees. Enjoy!

Horse Farms, Bluegrass Region, Kentucky

I decided to take a drive yesterday if for no other reason than to get out of the house in spite of the subzero temperatures and snow on the ground, not to mention, constant snow flurries throughout the past few days. The Bluegreass area of Kentucky, around Lexington and Midway, is only about a 40 minute drive from my home, so I decided to make that my destination. I wanted to see how the horses were holding up under these frigid conditions. There weren't many horses out grazing, but I did happen across this beautiful guy who was happy to see me stop to take a gander. And, I might add, even happier to pose for me. I hope you enjoy these as I enjoyed taking them immensely. I especially love the ice crystals hanging off of his whiskers. Adorable. Enjoy!