Spring - The Edge of Water

While the weather seems more like spring, it is still pretty chilly with the wind right off the ocean. I went down to the shore this afternoon for a half-hour or so to take some pictures and it didn't take all that long to get really cold.

My intention was to try out my neutral density filter as a way of expressing the photo assignment "The Edge of Water" I use with classes. While I have read a great deal about using ND filters, I had never actually put it into practice. I made a bunch of mistakes, and then little by little got better at it to the point I got some images I think I like. Here are a few, and I find the almost pure white of the water in the first one fascinating after looking at ice on the bay for the most of the winter.

Frosty Morning

It is so nice to have some warm days and feel that sun on my face, but this morning had that "spring chill". I stopped the car and flicked on the "Hipstamatic" app on my phone, pointing it out through the windshield at the trees on the sides of the road. The frost contributed a sense of mystique to the image that I think represents this time of the season and that time of morning very well!

The Past Winter

I am already feeling nostalgic for last winter, especially after today has topped 60 degrees and the snow is melting quickly. I took this shot a couple of weeks ago, and felt at the time it was a marker for the end of winter, and then we got a few single digit temperatures over night and I did my "cake walk" on the ice a few days ago. Everthing is open in the bay now and it does feel good to really have winter behind us!

Acorn Composites

Hey All!

It's great to have a group of fellow teaching artists who are interested in the way that photo images might  be altered and manipulated to help students find a solution to ARTS problems in their work, as well as finding entirely new ways to express themselves!

This post is for the teachers in the MAEA Spring Conference in Brewer who are planning to participate in my workshop on using the MLTI "Acorn" program for image composites.

The link to files I have put together for the session is

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BxJsGy-IBRrhfnd3VmdSTGZSY0ZmSmdjQ0RBRHo2dU1fZXhDaFVOTGJWaGZaU3VhUWVqMkU&usp=sharing

... and I hope you will free free to download or upload files to this folder. Now on to the session!

But I'm on it Tonight Anyway!

I did some "ice cake hopping" at dusk tonight down by the shore, and it was very cool. I also got a couple of images I like very much. The ice cakes are such a variety of shapes and sizes that they provide a very interesting random pattern along the shore. Looking back at the house, the shore becomes this white littered playground. I found it fascinating!

The Bay Ice is Now Unsafe!

Watching the ice begin to deteriorate the past few weeks has been interesting, and I think it will be a while before anyone walks on ice on Flander's. Really punky looking now and hard to access from the shore. Picture below.

Two Months Later

The ice in the bay has been pretty solid for the months of March and February, but these last few sunny days have begun to break it up, especially near the shore where the fresh water runs down and the sun strikes the snow and ice at an angle that facilitates melting. This may well have been my last day on the ice as it is starting to get sort of "punky" and the water is now seeping up through the cracks, especially along the shore.

Here are a few pictures I shot tonight at dusk.

Another Storm Day

Here we are at home being "socked in" by a lesser storm than in the past weeks, but still giving us additional accumulation we may not really need at this point! I made this image this morning out the second floor, where we can still see through the windows as they are above the level of the snow. The bay looks as though it is just going out across to the end of the earth!

To New Goucester in the Storm

This past weekend was an adventure as we headed south in the middle of a snowstorm, which is no new thing as we have done much more precarious things in the past. I had rested some from the concussion and am starting to feel slightly like myself again. It was a good weekend with the family and we always enjoy the boys, especially with Emerson becoming so much more interactive and personable!

The first shot here is a macro of one of Jackson's "binkys". I started calling them "chew toys" and Jackson would correct me every time, never succuming to referring to them as I did. He would say "It's called a binky, Grampie!" Here's the shot, you decide.

I was amazed by this second shot, which was a "no look", grab the iPhone from the armrest in the car, flick it on, and hit the shutter button while holding it against the window of the car. Jen pointed out the beauty of it and I was so lucky to get it on such quick notice! It is right after the Penobscot Narrows Bridge headed toward Searsport.

Juno Sunset

All that snow in the air and the blustering that accompanies it made for a remarkable sunset over the Sorrento Golf Course tonight. Looking across the bay, the sun was an unusually glowing ball as it sank slowly down to the horizon. I didn't really have time to set up a tripod for these shots, and it was still snowing quite a bit, but I was able to shoot at a fairly fast shutter speed, so they worked OK, just OK.