Blind shooting!

This is what my cool weather 'gear' looks like. I have over the glasses snow goggles which really have been so helpful protecting my eyes against the white glare of the snow.

Unfortunately on a hard long hike, eventually my glasses fog up inside. This is caused by me pulling the goggles up to peer through the camera viewfinder and then settling the goggles back down.

Since I can't see distance well anyway, but can tell where I am putting my feet, I took my glasses off on Sunday morning and stuffed them in a case in my backpack. 

I had to take the battery out of my Olympus camera and put it in my mitten to keep it warm enough to hold a charge. My small camera pocket which is water proof was stuck in my inner breast pocket.

It was convenient to use, pull out, use Auto Focus/Snow Scene and squint to see a blurry landscape and press the button. 

View of a row of pines on the ridge top.

This is the snowmobile trail where it cuts through the neighbor's land and drops through the woods into a steep valley.

The light was beyond enchanting. The sun is so low in the sky that everything had an eerie glow to it. Add the ice/snow coating and everything also glistened.

As I went deeper and deeper into the valley, it got significantly colder. I navigated along the creek towards my goal of the Big Spring. When there is a sudden cold spell, the Big Spring will produce some of the most fascinating frost on the mossy rocks that are in the spring. The warm water from the spring [something like 45 degrees F] causes a steam affect when the warm air above meets the frigid air.

Sunny side of the valley along
the creek.

Shaded side of the valley along the creek.

I find it interesting that I took these two shots only minutes apart, yet the camera read the white balance so differently in the bright sunlight vs. the cool shade. Or...my yellowed cataract eyes just can't really see what the true colors are. I did try and run this through a simple program that I could 'click' on the white part of the snow and 'get' the proper white balance. 

And the difference in temperature from one side of the valley to the other was about 5 degrees and noticeably much colder.

The going was very difficult because the long tall weeds, brush, and trees were all bent over. I had to duck, weave, and push through places I didn't normally walk to follow the creek.

Getting to the Big Spring on a good day is quite the effort. Getting to in this terrain was a bit more difficult. However, I finally made it.

The Big Spring

I was facing the sunny side of the valley while taking this shot. I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is a slight fog above the water towards the middle of the photo above --- near the bent over trees.
Normally I can walk in under those trees and walk along the edge of the spring. 

There was no good way back out so I had to backtrack when I turned around to go home. I'd used up my allotted time away from the house and needed to get back.

Going home along the creek was an adventure on its own as all the usual trails up the valley were blocked by snowy foliage, bent limbs, and in some cases tree tops that had come down because of the heavy snow/ice.

I found one of my routes blocked by an oak tree top so I had to do some creek leaping to get around it. Finally I decided to brush bust and follow a faint deer trail up the valley wall.

The light was so amazing at times I just stood and looked at it. Even with no glasses and poor vision, the colors and light was incredible.

I got into the open meadow and headed on home.

My tracks across the Meadow.

I was really surprised at how well my little point and shoot
camera did and how well I sort of
was able to compose things even without
my glasses. Mother Nature

did the work. I just tried to 
record some of it.

I do truly love snow and winter. I am sometimes torn between snowshoeing, hiking, or cross country skiing. Generally I will pick the snow shoes as they do not limit where I can go. 

We are supposed to get a storm starting Wednesday evening, so I will have plenty of snow to enjoy. The roads and the winds will get nasty.

But we have food, shelter, and a full tank of LP. 

I'll just squint through my goggles and enjoy it.

Good Morning

The weather app said dense fog, but I saw the hazy moon and decided to walk out to the cropland on the ridge to try and get some pre dawn photos. Maybe I'd get lucky.

This was a bit of a struggle for me. There were so many things to look at and photograph, I could have stayed all morning. I wanted to stay until the sun came over the horizon, but duties back home sometimes dictate my time.

The walk to this part of the ridge is only a half mile. The cropland is the only part of the area this is not crowded by wild forest. I say wild, because well...it is! 

Not only did I get a look at the predawn light bouncing off the snow and tracks, I got valley fog!

Don't laugh but I did a little happy dance in the snow and then started to shoot. Since these conditions don't come around often I did a lot of guessing. 

I was enamored by the blue tint and reflections in the snow. Once on a discussion board for learning photography, I was told that snow always had to be white, no exceptions. Of course I argued about it. 
Well, since it was about 12 degrees out, I felt fine with the cold blue tint on the snow.

Anyway. My whole purpose of walking to this part of the ridge was to see that one lonely tree in the dip. My intention was to hike to the tree and shoot with the tree against the sky.

Pfft. I nixed that idea. First shot is with a 12mm lens wide open. The second shot is with the all powerful zoom as is the third shot. I had fun, I enjoyed it.  

I really struggled with the white balance and the colors bouncing off the snow. I am not afraid to admit it. 

I may try another trip down towards that tree a bit later this year. I still think it would be neat to get a solitary tree against a sunrise.

I headed back home.

Time to make the coffee and get my morning duties taken care of.  I could have happily stayed out for most of the morning. Wait, didn't I already say that?

I got hubby situated and then took Charlie out for a look see. Charlie was into finding rabbit pellets and deer pellets. We were both content.

I'm not sure, but I think this last one ended up as my favorite because I tried something very different.

Shoot at the sun with the trunk blocking it. The frost was coming down like a snowfall. 

It was more glittery in person.

So.

Good morning.