Winter’s Mid-day Light

I had several errands to run today, and one of them took me up to the town of Mono. I decided to go for a short hike at Splitrock Loop Trail since it was just up the road from one of my stops. If you’ve read my other post, How Things Can Change in 4 Days, you know all about my fascination with the birch trees on this trail.

Birches

I love this grove of trees, but I can’t seem to get the photo I picture in my head. One day I will find the shot, until then, expect to see more attempts.

Grandmother Tree in Winter

And then, there is the grandmother tree. She’s even beautiful in winter. It’s fun to be able to revisit the same places in different seasons. 

Whites of Winter

On the way home, I spotted this barn that stood out with this amazing blue sky behind it. The white barn would have blended in with the snow on a more typical overcast winter day. Today, however, it screamed at me to take its photo. And with that cloud, how could I not take the photo?

Barn

A little further down I spotted this barn. Both barn photos were taken at the same time, and the skies are very different. The only thing I changed was the direction I took the photo. By turning 180ยบ the bright blue sky has disappeared, and instead, I got this golden cloudy sky.

Amazing how just turning around can give you a completely different look and feel in your photos. Don’t forget to turn around to look behind you next time you’re out photographing.

A Walk in the Park

I met my friend Nigel for a walk at Claireville Conservation Area this afternoon. Mostly we were out for a walk, but I did capture a couple of photos that I liked.

The Path

When I processed this image above, I first worked on a colour version, but there was too much brown for my liking. I decided black and white was the way to go for the photos.

White Branches

The image above was one of the last photos I took from my walk today. There was beautiful light hitting these trees, and I couldn’t resist taking a couple of shots. I punched up the “glow” on the branches to make it more dramatic.

Overall, it was a lovely day for a walk, and I’m happy to come away with a couple, not so bad, photos.

It Happened Again

The snow has come back, at least temporarily. Yesterday evening snow started to fall, and by this morning, we had a nice blanket of snow.

Creek Path

It’s slowly starting to melt as the temperatures begin to climb again. The meteorologists weren’t kidding when they said it would be a mild winter. So far, we’ve had three decent sized snowfalls, and usually, within a couple of days, the temps go up, and the snow disappears.

Berries

The fun thing about the snow melting is you get these little droplets hanging off of things like these berries.

Pine Needles

Or these pine needles.

Shoe Ice

And then there are these fun shapes that icicles can become, like this little boot-shaped icicle. Okay, I’ve never really seen icicles shaped like little boots before, but how cool is that? And it’s just hanging on with this squiggly ice shape. Now, this was a great find on my walk. If I had waited another day, it would most likely be gone.

Winter Wonderland on Christmas Day

The weather forecast said we would get snow on Christmas Day but that there wouldn’t be much. When I woke up this morning and saw the amount of snow, I was surprised. We got about 10 cm of snow for Christmas morning. That hasn’t happened for a long time.

A White Christmas

I had to walk over to the pharmacy, so I didn’t take my camera along with me, but once I saw how picturesque everything looked, I knew I had to make time to go out for another walk today. Around 2:30 pm, I grabbed my camera and headed out the door. 

Afternoon Sun

The great thing is the sun goes down early this time of year, and you get beautiful light that happens mid-afternoon. I was out for about an hour, and you can see this golden light was starting to deepen by the time I took the second photo. It was a beautiful day to celebrate Christmas.

This is my last post for 2020, and I wish you all the very best for 2021!

Footprints in the Snow

We had a little snow overnight. Nothing as significant as we received last Sunday, but enough to be interesting enough to go out for a walk in the late afternoon to get some photos.

Footprints in the Snow

I liked these footprints on the creek path. The way the light was shining across the path caught my eye. I got down really low to get a better view of the light and shadow around the footprints. It gives you a unique perspective on your subject when you change your angle or position.

Frozen Reeds

It was cold enough today to freeze the small puddles by the schoolyard (which are deeper than you would think). The soft light was hitting the ice in a way that made it glow.

Taking the catwalk home I noticed these berries that seem to have got stuck on the fence. I decided it looked interesting enough to take a photo.