Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Vancouver has no snow.
It is not winter here. Instead, we have perpetual fall - the cold, wet kind. However, there are pockets of sunshine. Some of those pockets are children visiting.
Here you see two of sa
id children - both adults now, but actually getting along. We went for a walk the day before Christmas because S. had other items on his agenda for Christmas Day, which did not include the family, but he was willing to spend the 24th with us. We appreciate everything we can get. This was a pretty boring walk, but it was an activity together, and it was outdoors, and that is good.
Some of the
m are actual sunshine, in which one can go outdoors. This picture was taken at La Center Bottoms, which is flat, and a bottom. There are few trees. Sometimes, report has it, one can see swans and cranes. reports may lie. Before the sun sets, at about 3:00, we could see the sunlight on the water, through some of those few trees. No snow, but tricks of sideways light, and the possibility of elegant isolation.
Some of them are trips to the wildlife refuge, seeing swans between the raindrops. Christmas day really did rain. We had 2 hours as a family in the morning, and then S. went off to visit with his friends.
I wasn't willing to give up on my holiday, however, so I decided to have an expotition. I dragged the rest (B. and C.) to the wildlife refuge, despite threatening clouds, because I had seen one ray of sunshine. On the way there, it poured. But again, looking ahead, we saw a crack in the clouds - and wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, that crack manifested itself as we got to Ridgefield. We got out of the car, and the rain stopped. We cheated, and walked on less approved paths, and saw some white blobs gliding on the water (see there two swans, serene and cool, upon that heaven painted pool - serralier). Several of the blobs - the gliding ones - had their heads up (blob with stick). Several were just blobs. The guess was that they might be on nests, but as this close up of the picture shows, no, they were on the water. I think they had been partying the night before and had headaches.
Some of the swans were sticking their heads in the water to eat grasses or whatever they found inthe water. This seems to have given them muddy necks. When you look at their necks laid across their backs, you see the backs are white as swansdown, but their necks are grey as ugly ducklings. Interesting juxtaposition. Facilitates our seeing what is what.
At the refuge, we saw swan after swan. In groups of 12-20, we saw them in at least 3 ponds. They make a warbley-warbley noise. We also saw egrets, and heron (heron at the much maligned LaCenterBottom, as well).
There was
also a mystery bird which real birdwatchers will recognize, but I haven't looked up yet. We saw an eagle flying, and one duck another duck (pomerantz). Bob started to turn it into the 12 birds of christmas, but he got distracted.
After a while, the rain resumed, and we retired. Hurrah for holidays.
It is not winter here. Instead, we have perpetual fall - the cold, wet kind. However, there are pockets of sunshine. Some of those pockets are children visiting.
Here you see two of sa
id children - both adults now, but actually getting along. We went for a walk the day before Christmas because S. had other items on his agenda for Christmas Day, which did not include the family, but he was willing to spend the 24th with us. We appreciate everything we can get. This was a pretty boring walk, but it was an activity together, and it was outdoors, and that is good.Some of the
m are actual sunshine, in which one can go outdoors. This picture was taken at La Center Bottoms, which is flat, and a bottom. There are few trees. Sometimes, report has it, one can see swans and cranes. reports may lie. Before the sun sets, at about 3:00, we could see the sunlight on the water, through some of those few trees. No snow, but tricks of sideways light, and the possibility of elegant isolation.Some of them are trips to the wildlife refuge, seeing swans between the raindrops. Christmas day really did rain. We had 2 hours as a family in the morning, and then S. went off to visit with his friends.
I wasn't willing to give up on my holiday, however, so I decided to have an expotition. I dragged the rest (B. and C.) to the wildlife refuge, despite threatening clouds, because I had seen one ray of sunshine. On the way there, it poured. But again, looking ahead, we saw a crack in the clouds - and wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, that crack manifested itself as we got to Ridgefield. We got out of the car, and the rain stopped. We cheated, and walked on less approved paths, and saw some white blobs gliding on the water (see there two swans, serene and cool, upon that heaven painted pool - serralier). Several of the blobs - the gliding ones - had their heads up (blob with stick). Several were just blobs. The guess was that they might be on nests, but as this close up of the picture shows, no, they were on the water. I think they had been partying the night before and had headaches.Some of the swans were sticking their heads in the water to eat grasses or whatever they found inthe water. This seems to have given them muddy necks. When you look at their necks laid across their backs, you see the backs are white as swansdown, but their necks are grey as ugly ducklings. Interesting juxtaposition. Facilitates our seeing what is what.
At the refuge, we saw swan after swan. In groups of 12-20, we saw them in at least 3 ponds. They make a warbley-warbley noise. We also saw egrets, and heron (heron at the much maligned LaCenterBottom, as well).
There was
also a mystery bird which real birdwatchers will recognize, but I haven't looked up yet. We saw an eagle flying, and one duck another duck (pomerantz). Bob started to turn it into the 12 birds of christmas, but he got distracted. After a while, the rain resumed, and we retired. Hurrah for holidays.
Monday, December 12, 2011
This is about photography (like I know anything). I've tried and tried to take pictures of things in the house, and they always look stupid, even when they don't in person.
However, I took this - and it looked stupid. So, I cropped it down and down and down - this about 1/8 the size of the original. This more or less represents the thing I was thinking about. However, I had in mind that I needed the whole image.
Our eyes only focus on one thing at a time, and we scan and scan. Our scanning includes LOTS of good pictures, and so we think the whole thing is good - but really, there is only a limited amount of good stuff. We just put it all together. So, I cropped and cropped, and this is the main thing I wanted. I've got other crops of other parts of the whole picture that I wanted, but if you have to choose JUST ONE, which is what you do with a photograph, you need to find the one to choose.
I think it's time for me to take a photography composition class.
