Let it snow!
A dear friend, a former Commanding Officer I served under while in Spain, now lives in his home state in Brillion, Wisconsin. He goes by “Frenchy”. It was his weekly news article that he writes called Glimpses of Brillion that inspired me to begin this effort. He writes about his daily walks through the meadows and woods while reminiscing with his dog Boomer, his faithful lab. Recently he was letting me know it was 10 degrees outside with blowing snow and he was considering a second pair of overalls for his daily walk in the wintry weather. Cold is just a relative term, even among us weather-guessers. It is cold here in Northern Florida this week. It is in the low 40s now at night. And it is snowing!
I have been plagued by blowing snow lately too. The kind that come with Snowy Egrets. Lots of them. They are hard for me to photograph. Basic photography teaches you about exposure settings, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, etc. Me, I just press the doohickey right now. But I am learning a bit as I go on. One technical issue I have wasted hundreds of photographs on is in laymans terms called “Blow out”. Basically a white bird against a dark background is difficult for cameras to evaluate for proper exposure. Most cameras average colors out over a specified area and picks a setting that often for white birds make them appear super bright white in the picture. So bright in fact all the feather details are gone. This is called "Blow Out or "Blinkies". So I try to compensate and usually end up with pictures underexposed or too dark. I just can’t seem to get the settings and buttons right. I went on line, read my manual, tried to repeat what they said to do but was not having much luck. Then the North Jax Monthly article put me in contact with a neighbor named Jim. He knows a lot about cameras (He is a little buggy though, takes lots of pictures of giant flies). But Jim is a good fellow. He gave me some tips and I tried them. Well it is still snowing outside with this Egret but guess what? It is not that bright blowing snow anymore. It is picture post card pretty kind of snow now. The kind I remember from Ohio winters (and why I live in Florida now).
Having friends is part of what life is all about. I have friends now I have never met but feel real close to them. Met quite a few doing my family genealogy research. It would be nice to put a face to them. Now I am making new friends in photography. Some of them I may never meet either. But if we never meet this side of life, I know we will on the other side I pray. In the meantime. Let it Snow! Thank you Frenchy and thank you Jim. And all my friends. Enjoy. Be blessed
Snowy Egret looks for food.
Frenchy, it may not be Wisconsin but this water is cold enough to freeze the you know whats off a brass monkey!
I knew I should have wore my big bird undies. Appears I have been exposed now in more ways than one!
Hey you in the duck blind! I seeee you.
Don't think of me as just another pretty feathered face. I have a bird brain too you know!
Let it snow let it snow let it snow!
Here's lookin at you Jim! Thanks again.