Behind the photo…

It appears that spring has truly arrived.  We listen with joy to the bird songs that fill the air, watch with delight the crocuses that withstood the long winter to put out their splendid array of colours, and wish a temporary good-bye to the rapidly diminishing piles of snow.  It seems strange, almost, to think that our most recent snowfall was just last week!

And for the interested readers, here is the answer to the “deep snowdrifts” picture in the last post…  A simple tire track drew my attention that day as I sought a unique perspective.  My getting down as low as possible gave the resulting picture the illusion of a much greater depth of snow than was really there.

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“Creativity ~ Approaching a need, a task, an idea from a new perspective.” Institute in Basic Life Principles

Spring is here … or is it?

For a while, it looked like we might really have seen the end of winter. Monday, the temperature soared to 24 C – practically summer! A few of us, however, still kept on cheerfully predicting an April snowfall. And sure enough it arrived! A picture taken late Tuesday afternoon portrays it well…

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Traces of spring… and winter again!

The following morning, some of us went out to take pictures…

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OK, it wasn’t really that deep… 🙂 Can anyone figure out how I took those photos, though? I’ll post a picture later of how it was done.

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The spring songbirds seemed to be enjoying the lovely day and the snowy background made the birdfeeder a perfect photoshooting spot.

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Getting close enough to shoot a good picture was tricky, but cropping afterward “fixed” the problem to a certain extent.

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Encouraged by my results from yesterday, I went out again this morning determined not to allow my 55mm lens stop me from getting close. At first, even the friendly chickadees were a little uncertain about approaching the feeder with someone so close by, but eventually they began to ignore me and even the slightly shyer juncos joined them, though they preferred the area on the ground 2 feet from my boots to the feeder 5 feet from my camera lens!

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And a few that were cropped…

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And my personal favourite:

20140417_ELF_2657Meanwhile, Stephen with a 70-300mm took on the challenge of shooting action photos.

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Yet, despite the late snow, spring is in the air. We are looking forward to seeing how God will order, not only natural events, but also our way as we follow him.

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More roofing

The weather changed significantly during the week following our snow fun. The temperatures rose, the sun shone, and the maple trees began running. Snow and ice sliding off the backside of the roof tore the chimney supports out and created damage to both the roof and the chimney. Rain was to move in the next day, so Stephen went up to see what he could do.20140407_ELF_2570

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 It’s a good thing Canadians still eat icecream in winter.  Coaticook makes their buckets just the right size…

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That should prevent rain from coming down the chimney!

A couple days later, Daddy went up and put the chimney back in place.

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A Sunday Snowstorm

On March 30th, we welcomed yet another snowstorm. This was the more typical March snow – heavy, wet, clinging to everything. Due to the hazardous driving conditions produced by such snow, many of the churches around cancelled their meetings. So we stayed home where we were joined by my two married brothers and their wives. In the afternoon, as we enjoyed lunch and a time of fellowship and games, we also watched the snow slowly creep its way off the roof. The rising temperatures outdoors gradually accelerated its progress and large chunks of the whole winter’s ice and snow accumulation began periodically falling off the edge of the roof. After a small avalanche fell, however, a problem was discovered…

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The situation was quickly diagnosed as an emergency and several jumped in to assist in resolving the problem before more snow had time to come down.

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Thankfully, nothing but the screen was really broken and the emergency team soon had the window back in place.  Boards were laid across it to prevent a reoccurance during subsequent avalanches.

Meanwhile, the photographers, deeming it safer to move out of avalanche range, made a few other discoveries…

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The old sugar shack finally collapsed under the weight of all that snow and ice.

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Oh, there’s a picnic table under there after all!

Snow is a lot of work, but it is also a lot of fun. The work done, activity quickly turned into a snowball fight. The advantages in this senario were rather one-sided…

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The snowcovered roof not only was used as a vantage point in the snowball fight, but also became an interesting “playground” as the guys attempted to remove the rest of the ice/snow.

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That was fun, but it created a little more work. It took me 45 minutes of shovelling to clear it all out! That was fun too, though.

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To the work! to the work! we are servants of God,
Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;
With the balm of His counsel our stregth to renew,
Let us do with our might what our hands find to do.

Spring?

They tell me that yesterday was the first day of Spring, but when I looked outside…

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And it is still snowing.  I have yet to succeed in getting a picture that freezes the snowflakes mid-air. Though I know the theory behind it for during the night, those techniques don’t wok during the day.

Our four-foot fence encircling a small play area for young children is currently nearly buried – another six inches of snow and it would be covered in places.  And no, we didn’t pile up the snow to that level.  This is really just the accumulation over the course of the entire winter!

Wait! Did I say entire winter? In my opinion, winter isn’t over yet despite the general stores’ advertisements for barbecues and clearance sales of snow shovels.

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Since we are Still Winter, some of us took advantage of the white covering and telltale signs of cold weather to do some moonlight photography.

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“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4a

Who needs curtains?

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” – Isaiah 1:18

After receiving another foot of snow yesterday, many of our basement windows have been covered with snow.  I particularly liked this picture, and thought there might be some other people who would enjoy it as well! 🙂

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“Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;

I wanto You forever to live in my soul,

Break down every idol, cast outevery foe;

Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Whiter than snow, yes whiter than snow;

Lord wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”

-James L. Nicholson

Still winter

Some people say that there are four seasons in Canada: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Road Construction.  If that is the case, I believe we are currently experiencing Still Winter.

Unlike many March snowstorms, last night’s precipitation came not in the form of large wet flakes that clung to every surface and clothed the trees in robes of white.  Rather, the chilly temperatures brought tiny crystals of drifting snow that, carried by gusting icy winds, created quite another kind of beauty.

Stephen and I dared to venture out with our cameras late last night.  Finding only partial shelter just within the barn door, we quickly learned that lens hoods can be used to keep out things other than direct beams of sunlight!

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One of my first shots

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Sadly, by the time I was set up for this shot, the wind was dying down.

The cows seemed grateful to come indoors for the night.

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This morning, Evelyn took a look out her window…

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… while I went out to check the electric fence and try practising some of what I learned during the photography workshop.

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Will it keep the cows in?

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an attempt at forced perspective

Can you find our picnic table in the picture below?

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Thank you, Lord, for the marvels of winter!

“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?” Job 38:22

CAPTURE Quebec highlight photos

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There were so many pictures taken during the photography workshop, that I could not possibly go through them all myself. So, I simply asked for everyone’s highlights. As can easily be seen, some really stretched out their creativity.

Learning to utilise Lightroom was an interesting experience for all of us. We enjoyed playing around with it.  Some alterations made the pictures look better; others were tried out simply for the sake of experimentation.

This post wouldn’t be complete without the famous pictures photographers always take…

And despite the apparent overabundance of Canon cameras, there were actually more Nikons users attending the class.

One final photo courtesy of Jonathan…

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