Wicked Weather!

You can Dance in a Hurricane

But only if you

are standing

in the

Eye.

I heard the above words when I was listening to my Pandora Station with earbuds while sorting out medications for Hubby. Doing meds for half the month or the full month takes quite a bit of time. I generally listen to music to blot out any distractions.

I just loved the lyrics to this song and sadly I don't know what the song was!

The winds whistled and roared above our little hollow and once more, I was grateful for not living on the ridge. We'd had over an inch of rain during the night with a lot of lightening and thunder. 

A few times when the thunder shook the house, Charlie was sure that the world was about to end.

Since it was soooo gloomy out, I decided to do some lightbox photography.

The ambient light was a little easier to control. Pictured above is the lightbox with a black background and a little Ulanzi cube light, a balloon light, a face mister, and tacky stuff. 

The tacky stuff is great for keeping the feet of the taller figure in place.

The little light comes with filters to change the color of the light. I'm still experimenting and learning all about light. I never thought I'd ever do anything other than outdoor photography.

However, here I am, learning something new.

I am really happy how this turned out. I used the lightbox with the lowest light setting and a diffuser over the light.

I used the Ulanzi cube with a slightly orange filter at the foot of the toy pointing up.

I used the face mister to produce...well, mist!

I learned a lot about mist. It can confuse the camera and it can also make things rather grainy. 

Finding the right balance takes a bit of work and quite a few shots.

Dark Trooper leaving his

charging station with 

a mini Dark Trooper

I found these non-Lego Legos a while ago when searching for knights.

[Pointing below at the photo---->]

If you are a fan of Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings series, these guys would be identified as Uruk-Hai Orcs. One Orc from Lego would be nearly $26.00. 
In a photo like this, you cannot tell if it is a real Lego or a knock off. I was able to get 7 Orcs and 7 Elf like knights in one package for less than one Orc.

These guys look pretty fierce. And now I am laughing because this Orc is holding his shield upside down!

A few days ago, I did make it down to the creek to enjoy some quiet time with Charlie. I had Squatch and Hobby in my bag. I went to my favorite spot and did this:

It's nice that they too can get out and enjoy some peaceful times.

This morning the moonlight woke me up and the skies were clear and bright!

Whew! Mother Nature has decided to give us another break from the Wicked Weather.

It'll still be a little windy, but at least I can get out today and enjoy the weather.

Black and White or colors

 

I used to say that Black and White photography was my favorite thing to do and in some ways it still is. But who doesn't love color? Bright beautiful colors?

The photo above was a fern leaf on a plant attached to a rock in the creek bottom. It stuck out from the rock and was surrounded by snow during that last rainy day we had.

In my way of looking at things, I thought it would make a nice black and white shot with the leaf isolated. Then I could admire the patterns of nature. An additional surprise was the drop of water that is hanging on the leaf frond at the top of the photo.

On the 8th of January we had some incredible fog and frost. I hiked through the woods to look for interesting shapes and patterns. Since the light was still quite dim and flat, it was hard to get anything interesting except shapes.

When I took these I noted that there was nearly no color at all in the tree trunks so I went with Black and White for the the shapes.

Some of the Ironwood aka Hornbean trees keep their leaves until spring and I just love the slight color contrast they give the dark forest.

Below is a small understory Hornbeam - Ironwood really provides a bit of interesting color to the backdrop of a large old twisted maple tree.

I came to the edge of the woods and looked up at Staghorn Sumacs that are so brilliant in the fall. 

I loved how entangled they looked in the frost with the forest behind them. Moody as all get out. To me it looks like a scientist's drawing of brain synapses. I don't know why I think of it that way.

It feels.
Entangled.

I moved on to my favorite Locust Tree and tried to find a clear shot of one of the branches without a background of brush and forest. I took one shot of the branches against the sky that was just okay.

The photo of the one below appealed to my mood much more in the final cut. The foreground itself was naturally black and white, the oaks in the far distance lent some color to the photo.

I think this one and the Sumac are my favorite for that day.

The very next morning, the frost was still around but the intense fog cleared and there was sunlight.

Here color ruled.
The pinkish orange sunrise colored the land and the frosted trees in the forest.