Day 59 – Snow Caps and Spring

The sun is out and it’s all quite gorgeous, so I took a quick look-see outside my office window.

Snow bonnets:

It is far too early to be seeing green sprouts. Or is it?

Day 58 – Dreary Day

It snowed all day. The sky remained a white-gray so the light didn’t make an optimal day for taking pictures.

The temps hovered in the mid-30s all day and as such it was just warm enough to prevent any accumulation. This view from my office window remained unchanged from 8am until 5pm.

Nonetheless, I ventured out to try to capture the snow on the bench outside the employee entrance. With no wind, and flakes that were delicate and tiny, the snow clung to every tree branch regardless of size, every blade of grass, and every ridge no matter how slight. It was quite lovely and in this shot I tried to catch how the snow accumulated on the ridges of the bench. Unfortunately, it just didn’t come out the way I’d hoped. Oh well, can’t win’em all.

Day 55 – Cloudless Twilight

As I pulled into the driveway tonight I looked west to see this beautiful sky. I had to try and shoot it. I tried to catch the moon with Venus and Jupiter, but to catch this sky required shutter speed too slow to prevent movement of those bodies showing up in the pictures. Still I couldn’t let it go. The blinkies are from our neighbor’s yard. I liked them, so I didn’t crop them out. Shot at 400 ISO, f/25, 30s

I tried to get Venus and Jupiter in this shot, but I wasn’t successful. This was shot at 3200 ISO, so there is a LOT of noise in this one. Shot at 3200 ISO, f/9.0, 1/25s.

Day 50 – Faded Roses and Budding Pines

I wandered into the yard today with plans to practice with my light meter. I metered and photographed the dogs, the trees, the sleeping vegetable garden and just worked my way around the backyard. It worked swimmingly and with few exceptions, my shots were properly exposed for my intended shots.

Our rose bushes have not been pruned so there are quite a few dead blooms on them. After shooting some of them, I headed out front to check out the Austrian Pines. We planted five of them when we built the house eleven years ago, and at the time they were just about three feet tall. Now they are huge and I noticed today that only one of them has pine cones on it. Odd. All the pines are “budding” though.

Rose Leaves © Carissa Snedeker

Red Rose © Carissa Snedeker

White Rose © Carissa Snedeker

Pine Bud © Carissa Snedeker

Day 46 – A bit of snow!

Well, more than a bit, but not a dumping. The morning commute was a bit of a bear, but we need the snow (and lots more, frankly). It was a busy, busy morning and I didn’t get to go outside until the sun was high in the sky and the melt had begun in earnest, but I managed to get a few good shots. I’m torn between the two of these. I love the pine, but I also really like the second with its textures and delicate buds peeking out of the snow. I’m also very happy with the sharpness of both. Click on photos for larger resolution and you’ll see what I mean. The second one’s flowers have exquisite texture. Exposing for snow can be tricky, and I’m not quite satisfied with that aspect of my shots. #2 seems a little warm, but neither do I want the snow to be too blue.

I’m posting early because after work I’m headed over to the UNR lighting studio to work on our third project with a couple of my classmates.

Day 42 – Falconry!

We celebrated Darwin Day today. We gathered at the South Valleys library and had cake and snacks and listened to a lot of interesting presentations. We learned about neuroscience and the problem of the self. One fellow gave a talk on “Wrongness.” I gave a talk on science standards in the U.S. and Nevada. We watched a short movie on the Galapagos, played Evolution Trivia, heard some great music from Beagle and the FootyFish. The most unusual presentation was one on falconry. Two young men brought their birds (one hawk, one falcon) and told us about their hunting habits, how they socialize and interact with each other and with humans, how their nostrils have special baffles in them so they can breathe when diving through the air to capture prey. After the talk we all went outside for a demonstration which gave me an opportunity to get some up-close photos.