Delta Lake State Park

The new year started out fairly routine. Heck, if I am being honest it was boring from the very start. I’m not much for parties so I believe I was asleep by 11:15pm on New Year’s Eve.

Hey, no comments from you in the back!

I enjoyed my night. I watched a good portion of the second season for The Man in the High Castle. The book was interesting but the series on Amazon Prime is very good. I could have watched all ten episodes and then I would have surely been up past midnight, but I promised myself I would at least make an attempt to make the show last a few days. It worked a little… 😉

Anyway, back to the first day of the new year. Grocery day! I was up close to my normal time. Shoveled the driveway. Got my cup of coffee and sat down at the computer to post my Year in Review blog article. I had spent most of the previous day writing it. I didn’t make any official resolutions for the new year, they never work out so why set myself up for the guilt. But I did have a few things on my mind concerning my photography journey and used the time before grocery shopping to investigate.

I wasn’t too hopeful for how the day would turn out with the weather, it was a rather blah morning. By early afternoon I realized it was turning into a day I should be outside enjoying. Although it was tough dragging myself off the couch, where I was enjoying a good book in the warmth of the sun coming though the window, I put on my coat and headed outside.  Wow, it was a gorgeous day!

First up, shovel the dusting of new snow off the driveway. With the sun beating down and the temps slightly over freezing any of the packed snow would begin to melt if I cleared away the covering. I then took a trip over to town in search of snowshoes. I’m thinking snowshoes would give me more chances to explore this winter and I know I could use the exercise! The one sporting goods store was closed, but a return is on my agenda for today.  If you do not hear from me again it is because I fell over while exploring with my snowshoes and couldn’t get up!

I walked up and down my road grabbing a few pics with my phone.  I had upgraded a few months ago to the new Google Pixel phone.  Although I am reading of issues other users have been having I am quite happy with the phone.  The camera is better than any of the previous phones I have owned and it is always fun for me to capture an image, process it with my phone apps and immediately post online.  Here is one of the images I managed to find yesterday:

As sunset approached I packed up my camera gear and headed to Delta Lake State Park. I wasn’t sure what I would find but I knew there would be other people out enjoying the day and I thought they could add some interest to any images I capture. The park did not disappoint. We had ice fishermen, cross-country skiers, snowshoers and some people out to enjoy the coming sunset. I had a good hour to explore and enjoy the ending of the day. I came home with a plethora of images to share. And rather then drip feed them to everyone, which only encourages me to not go look for more images, I am bringing them all to you in this post.

This collection highlights what is possible to capture if you look around and are not afraid to experiment. All these images were captured within an hour time frame, yet there are so many different looks and feels. Each image changes the environment I was in. Use a faster shutter speed and you can darken a bright day. Convert an image to monochrome and you can highlight the shadows that play across the snow. Point your camera into the sun and create sun flare to enhance an image.

I will attempt to create posts that include more thought. Last year I took the easy way out most of the time and only posted an image. I think that cheapens your experience of what I created. I can enjoy a beautiful picture but I connect with the image more when I know some of the story behind it. Maybe my stories will connect with you… 🙂