before & after

For all those people who thought I had short hair before....NOW it's short!

taking a self portrait

my arm is twisted to keep my shoulder back...right hand is holding the remote

Every meeting, our photo club has a couple of "competitions" where anyone who is interested can enter some photos into competition under certain themes. This week, one of the themes was "Portrait". I did have some people lined up to take portraits, but it fell through when the family got sick. So, one day last week when John went into town, I set up an area to take some self portraits. Easier said than done! I set the camera on a tripod, and set it to take photos using my remote...added a sheet as a backdrop, a light to the side, and used a window for some soft lighting on the other side. Then I grabbed my "props"...er, willing volunteers???...to pose with me. One hundred and twenty five photos later (125!!! thank goodness for digital), I had a couple of usable shots. Because I couldn't focus the camera using the remote, there was a lot of slight shifting for each press of the remote, hoping to get something in focus. These are some of the out-takes:

Riley is getting tired of posing

whoops! the camera must have shifted

a new guinea pig...seems I can't be ready even when I'm the one taking the photo!

Myrtle says photo session is over

looking irritated with the whole thing

finally got a good one!

Bald Eagles - part 2

Bald Eagles - part 1

Today we headed over to Sheffield Mills to try to capture some Bald Eagles. For the past few years, we have gone during the Eagle Watch but this year I wanted to go before the festival weekends. We had the area practically to ourselves, and I was able to walk out on the fields to get up close and personal with some of the eagles. It was freezing cold...-10C with a wind chill of -20C I'm sure...my fingers were so cold when I got back in the car that I started to cry. Two minutes later I spotted another eagle up around the bend and asked John to pull over so I could get out and take more photos! Enough chatter...I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

around the yard

I love looking out our front door late in the day to see the light of the setting sun. It snowed yesterday, and it was just beautiful (my photos do not do it justice).

When I went back inside, John asked me if I saw the sunlight on the trees. Well, there was a whole different light on the fields to the back of the house...

...with the setting sun shining on the snowy trees, and the dark blue sky in the background. Lovely.

a bum wrap

A Bum Rap:

Main Entry:	bum rap
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	false accusation
Synonyms:	bad break, bad break, bad charge, bad deal, bad rap, bum deal, bummer, drag*, frame-up, lousy deal, misfortune, raw deal, rotten deal, stroke of bad luck, the shaft, the shaft, unfair assessment

A Bum Wrap: 

a rural sport

mailbox along the LaHave River

Mailbox bashing is a sport around here....likely a sport throughout all rural areas. Our mailbox is often a target, simply because it's isolated...no neighbours nearby, and our driveway is a half mile long so we sure can't see it!

Shortly after we moved here (almost 4 years ago), we found a dead fish in our mailbox. I was a little upset, and wondered if it was some kind of message for us CFA's (come from aways). I don't take it personally anymore. Mailbox tampering seems to be a pastime for some yahoos.

Over the past four years, we've had to replace our mailbox once, repair the new metal box many times, put the supporting post back up a couple of times, and this time it looks like our post will have to be repaired. Our box for the newspaper was taken a couple of months ago, but the newspaper gets delivered to our mailbox anyway. Poor John is out there...the coldest day so far this winter...doing repairs so our mail will be delivered tomorrow. 

(or maybe we shouldn't repair it? all we receive are bills anyway!)

a bit about barns

a barn in Gays River, NS

I have a thing for barns. Not the new ones...I like old and rustic. Totally impractical, but there you go. I love barns with lofts and lean tos. When we are daytripping around Nova Scotia, John often gets to hear me say "look at that barn!".

I don't know where this love comes from. I think maybe it has roots in my childhood, when my parents took me to visit my Uncle Ralph's farm. I was a "city girl", and totally terrified of the cattle. They followed me up the farm lane on one of our visits, which had me totally freaked out, so I started walking faster. The faster I walked, the faster the cows walked.

But that doesn't explain why I love barns.

Uncle Ralph and Aunt Mildred had a big farm kitchen, and something else that I loved...a walk up attic. I was convinced as a child that there was treasure up there. It was probably a good thing I was never allowed to venture up there...I likely would have been quite disappointed!

say cheese

Practicing with some formal photo sessions for an upcoming "portrait competition" at our photo club. Poor Mulligan's photos were not even good enough to consider. These are also rejects for various reasons, but good enough to share with you. Practice, practice, practice....that's what I'll be doing.