Colors in December & Winter's Solstice

I do love the fact that the month of December gives me an opportunity to enjoy tons of beautiful lights indoors and so many things to practice Still Life with.

The felted snowman and the little ceramic tree were items I used to decorate my MIL's room when she was in the Nursing Home.

Gnomes. Well, since I live in a Nordic part of Wisconsin, we all love Gnomes. You can't go anywhere without seeing Gnomes and Trolls in gift stores.

I am searching for a gnarly looking troll to add to my collection.

I did get out for some hiking this week. I went out with one thing in mind. To find some December Colors.

Along Old Hwy 131 at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve --> Highbush Cranberry!

Along a deer trail at home on a gloomy day ----> Multiflora Rose 

When I got down to the creek bed I sat on rocks and looked for some teenie tiny things. This log lays across the rocks and the place where the creek flows in wetter years.

So I got up close and personal with the moss. 

Powderhorn Lichen. Those tips should turn bright red and 'flower' in February!

This grey lichen was found on an old oak log. The tree had been blown down late in the year in 2018. It is near the Powderhorn lichen I photographed above but a different log.

A common name is Rosette Lichen. I think. Since I am no expert, this is a pretty good guess.

Mosses and Lichens are pretty easy to spot in the winter since there are no leaves to hide them!

Happy Winter's Solstice!

It was too overcast to enjoy a beautiful sunrise, so I will give you this one from a few years ago!

Winter Solstice Sunrise

I like winter and I like marking special dates and times by going out and observing them. This spring for example, I climbed a bluff to watch the moon's partial eclipse on May 27th.

I watched the sun's partial eclipse too on June 11th.

It stands to reason that I'd get excited about a clear sky and the Winter Solstice. There were posts in our area FB group about folks getting together for a bonfire and celebration to watch the sun go down.

I wanted to see it come UP. I just love mornings. I like getting out there while it is still dark and watching the day awaken. 

I decided I'd walk to the ridge in the morning if the skies were clear enough.

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I set my coffee cup down and grabbed a spare battery and the tripod. I thought it would be fun to go to that favorite little tree on the ridge and see if I couldn't shoot myself watching the sunrise. I'm not very good at this yet. 

One option I can use on these newer cameras is the ability to operate it from my cell phone. Easier than trying to pair a camera and a phone while it is 12 degrees F outside, is using the delayed timer option. Another feature I discovered on my nicer Olympus is a time lapse feature. 

Oh now that is very cool. I used it the night before the huge storms struck the Midwest. 50 photos were shot to make a 7 second time lapse. 

When I got to the ridge I tried taking a few shots here and there to figure out where I should 'be'. I even tried a short time lapse which was an utter failure.

Here is a shot from the failure where it looks like the camera is about to be attacked by a Sasquatch which actually is me in my insulated coveralls, cap, hoody, scarf, and mittens. I was scurrying back to the camera in the low light and became a blurry monster.

I'm not one to be discouraged so I set everything up again and tried a new location. This one is a 5 second time lapse. I don't recall how many frames it took only that I was excited that at the very last second, the sun peeked over the horizon. And that was good enough for me.

I was going to try another quick time lapse but my fingers were burning from the cold. I'd had to exchange out the battery as the cold and my other antics had used up the one that was only partially charged.

All in all I was happy with my experiment.

I'd gotten close enough to being on the horizon to have most of me in the shot even if I still looked like a hulking monster of some sort. I got part of the tree I really like too. These little trees are on a tiny strip of land that divides two crop fields. 

Here the land is not even, it rises and falls so getting that perfect shot of a solo tree is generally quite difficult. Well, actually it is impossible unless the landscape were to change and I were to maintain that 10 foot section with a weed whacker. 

Still, it is a nice little tree and it often appears in my winter sunrise photos.

Adding the human element sometimes adds perspective to the shot, I find it quite funny for it to be myself wrapped up in winter clothes. But I'm game. I'd like to try it again!

And there it is...Winter Solstice Sunrise...

I may have to try this again if we get another clear morning. The next few days are supposed to be warmer but I am not sure how much cloud cover there will be.