Posts in Category: winter: snow and ice

Downy in the snow…

On January 20, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, close up, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, snow, wildlife, winter: snow and ice

Downy Woodpecker, Kennebunk Maine

Heavy, wet, clingy snow through the day and night on Wednesday piled up on branches and the back deck feeding station to provide some unique photo-ops. The Downy Woodpecker was not much inconvenienced since it spends much of its time feeding on the bottom side of branches anyway. 🙂 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed and cropped for scale in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Pine Plantation, January thaw…

On January 14, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - abstract, hdr, landscape, Maine, snow, tree, winter: snow and ice

Pine plantation, Alwive Pond Preserve, W. Kennebunk Maine

I went inland yesterday on my photo prowl. I managed to find a safe place to park at Kennebunk Plains and walked in to Day Brook Pond, and then went around the loop to Alwive Pond Preserve on the other side of the Mousam and walked back through the pine plantations there. After several days of rain and thaw, it is looking rather winter-worn and the trail, where it has been packed by hikers and snowshoers, is pure ice, but the pine plantation was a strange as ever. A poem.

There are few places stranger than
the pine plantation at Alwive Pond.
The trees all of a kind and all of an
age…my age…or a few years younger,
planted in the early 50s to fill in 
for the fires of 47. And today, in 
a January thaw, the trees stand stark
in the filtered light, unnaturally even, 
holding high a fragile roof against 
the winter sky. The hush is so profound 
it is a presence, behind you, a cowled
multitude, breathing reverence in 
perfect rhythm to your breath. 

Sony Rx10iii in-camera HDR. 24mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro for a somewhat high-key effect to bring out the geometry. 

Mid-winter thaw…

On January 12, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - landscape, Maine, Pic of the Day, Pond, snow, winter: snow and ice

Pond along Rt 9 in Kennebunk Maine

It got up to 47 degrees yesterday, on January 11th, after night of rain. The combination had every creek in flood, ponds melting, and the tide, already a King tide, running abnormally high. They were practicing hockey here on the little pond by Rt 9 in Kennebunk only the day before. You can see the mounds of snow that marked the edge of the shoveled area in two different storms.  I like the light and shadows here, and the reflections. 

Sony Rx10iii in-camera HDR. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. My own shadow removed from right center at the bottom with TouchRetouch. 

Winter Church Yard

On December 31, 2016 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - church, landscape, Maine, Pic of the Day, snow, snow drift, winter: snow and ice

 

Winter Grave Yard, Kennebunk Maine.

We had a good snowfall overnight…4-6 inces in our yard…more inland (up to 18 inches they were saying). I had an appointment for a health screening (provided by my insurance carrier free of charge, so why not) early so I was out before daylight snow-blowing the drive. The appointment was at a mobile van in the parking lot of the local library, which is right next door to one of the oldest churches in Kennebunk. After my appointment, as I was getting into the car, I looked out across the grave yard next door, and across the street to another of the old churches, and had to get back out with my camera.

Sony RX10iii in-camera HDR. 1/1000th @ f5 @ ISO 100. A distracting branch removed in Touchretouch and then processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro 12.9.

Cedar Waxwing among berries…

On December 27, 2016 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, birds, close up, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife, winter: snow and ice

Cedar Waxwing, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk Maine

As I have mentioned, I got a lot of good shots of Cedar Waxwings in the ornamental berry tree at Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk Maine last week. I have already shared one. This is another 🙂 I love the pose and the color. The image did take some massaging, however. There was an out-of-focus twig running right up through it in the foreground, right at the tip of the birds beak. It did not destroy the image, but it was distracting. The image was originally processed in Snapseed. I was then able to remove the twig in Handy Photo which has a magic touch-retouch feature that is like PhotoShop’s healing brush, only better. I did some final clean up using a brush mask in Polarr. That is much more processing than I normally do on any image. 🙂

Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view (2x Clear Image Zoom). Processed as above. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4. 

Happiness!

On December 24, 2016 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, close up, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife, winter: snow and ice

Eastern Bluebird, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk Maine

It is the Bluebird of happiness, always! Not the Crow, or even the Cedar Waxwing, or the Great Blue Heron. Can you see it…the Great Blue Heron of happiness? No, it is the Bluebird of happiness. I know I am always happy to see one, or several as the case usually is. This specimen was part of a flock of a dozen or so feeding in and around Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk Maine early this week. It was there on the roof of the picnic shelter drinking melt water from the snow. 

Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view (2x Clear Image Zoom). 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet. 

And may this truly be your Bluebird of Happiness for today!

Blue and white…

On December 23, 2016 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - abstract, close up, Maine, Pic of the Day, snow, storm, tree, winter: snow and ice

Blue Spruce, Brown Street, Kennebunk Maine

We had another of those snowed all day and then turned to rain days in Southern Maine yesterday, but for a while there we had a nice white frosting over everything. This is just a Blue Spruce in the yard of a house down the street. I like the delicacy of the blue/green against the white, and the contrast in texture between the needles and the snow.

Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program mode. 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my Android Tablet.

Cedar Waxwing in winter…

On December 22, 2016 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife, winter: snow and ice

Cedar Waxwing, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk Maine

Continuing my unintentional theme of birds in winter, here is one of several “keepers” of the Cedar Waxwings from my freezing session at Roger’s Pond Park on the Mousam River in Kennebunk, Maine. (You will undoubtedly see others. 🙂 There is lots to like about a Cedar Waxwing. They are somehow elegant birds, and I particularly like the new-crayon-bright red and yellow on the wings and tail. I have only a few shots where both is showing (or at least peaking out). 

Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Cropped for scale and composition and processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet. 

Winter finch #2

On December 21, 2016 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, Maine, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife, winter: snow and ice

Gold Finch, Roger’s Pond Park, Kennebunk Maine

Yesterday I shared a House Finch from this same tree at Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk Maine. There were Eastern Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings, and Downy Woodpeckers around the tree as well…yet to come. 🙂

This an American Goldfinch in winter plumage. There is just enough yellow to stand out among the red berries. 

Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Cropped for scale and composition, and processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet. 

Ice bells on willow wands, variation.

On December 19, 2016 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - abstract, ice, Maine, Pic of the Day, river, sculpture, Wetzlar, winter: snow and ice

Mousam River at Roger’s Pond, Kennebunk Maine

Sometimes ice bells (see my previous post) overlap to form extended structures…natural ice sculptures in the abstract mode. They can get quite complex, as you see here in this image from the Mousam River at Roger’s Pond in Kennebunk Maine. They have a beauty all their own.

Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. F4 @ 1/250th @ ISO 200. Processed in Polarr on my Android tablet.