Daily Image - Dec 2017 Archive

01 Dec 17 Being a Friday mailing this is supposed to be either a macro or close up. My plan was to share just a tight crop of the statue and call it a close up, but I couldn't bring myself to deny you a look at all that surrounds it. This particular work of art, like so many we saw was either lacking identification or if it had some it wasn't in a language we know, which in our case is sadly limited to English. This statue adorns the main entrance to a large building on the Prague Castle grounds and appeared to be some kind of meeting/conference/reception hall. Several meters beyond the right hand set of doors folks were setting up tables and chairs while others were sprucing up the gardens. As you can tell from the driveway it was raining but what you can't see is the crowds. I had to constantly just go for grab shots as tying to get the tourists to give you a moment to take a clean shot was simply impossible. My favorite were the @#$%^&* cell phone shooters and those who saw you were trying to take a shot so they would just stand in front of or lean against what you were trying to shoot. There were moments. . . . . . This statue is just one of several in the garden area but is unique in what is displayed behind it. I've endeavored to bring out that artwork on the walls to illustrate what we saw on a regular basis. I tried to find a name for this piece of art but failed. Should one of you recognize it please give me the name. The original being a grab shot was anything but properly composed. I've significantly cropped, skewed, and rotated it in an attempt to make it look somewhat correct in perspective. Plus I've accentuated the wall art to bring it forward. Otherwise this is how it looked. The rain and overcast sky accounts for the lovely saturated colors. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/125 sec @ f / 9.

04 Dec 17 Our first stop down the Danube was to visit Salzburg. it was about a two hour drive from the boat to the city so the buses made a stop about 30 minutes out at what was a combo rest stop/refueling location/restaurant/hotel. Nestled in the heart of the Austrian Alps, it was a truly lovely place to spend a few minutes stretching our legs, relieving bladders, and making some small purchases. Although we don't recall the scene, we were told that it was the location for the filming of a lake boating scene in The Sound of Music. To state it mildly, the view was fantastic and I'll share a pano of it later in the week. As we were departing the spot heading on the second leg of the drive into Salzburg we noticed a group of stags on the hillside directly opposite the rest stop. I was going to share that shot for today but as I was scrolling through the shots from that day I realized that I had unknowingly taken another shot of deer just before we pulled into the rest stop. As it turns out, the stags we saw on departing were a couple hundred meters beyond and above where the does were hanging out together. The weather was a bit on the stormy side so we were getting some nice lighting that was brightly illuminating places here and there. Where the does were hanging out was one such spot and you can see a couple dozen of them just resting at the bottom of the image. You will also note that it must have been a fantastic fall by the remaining color on a few of the hardwoods and a large section of ground cover. I've cropped off a bit of the top of the shot, removed an annoying flood light at the bottom, and given the clouds a bit of help. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 320; 1/400 sec @ f / 6.3.

05 Dec 17 Today's monochrome submission will be in gray and white vice black and white. Woke up this a.m. to a fair amount of fog noticeable not only by what we saw but by what we heard, the fog horn down at the ferry terminal announcing to all interested that visibility was less than 1/4 mile. Actually it was far less than that and made for an interesting sight at the terminal. While waiting for the ferry to sneak in I grabbed several shots of a sailboat at anchor, a group of workers attending to something on one of the stand offs, and a just visible terminal. The workers were doing something to what I initially thought was a harbor fog horn but I now believe it was something else that was in need of apparently immediate attention. While I was taking the photos the blast of a fog horn was repeatedly reminding me of just how dense was the fog. There is a ferry in this shot but you won't see it. Moments after I pressed the shutter you could faintly see it materialize directly above the Great Blue Heron. This is just how it looked. I've done nothing to it. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

06 Dec 17 Picking up where we left off on Monday at the rest stop about 90 minutes outside Salzburg. You will recall I mentioned that the lake at the base of the Alps was the one used for the boating scene in The Sound of Music. Now I don't recall such a scene but that was the claim of the folks we were visiting in the store as well as our guide. You entered the store/restaurant through the gift shop and exited the same way. Pretty clever way of maximizing your sales opportunities. I could see this view through the store windows but could find no way to gt to it so after nosing around for several minutes unsuccessfully finding an exit to the deck, I very politely asked one of the servers if such was possible. She gave me a great big smile - I did ask her VERY nicely - and said "follow me". She took me to a door that led out to a balcony where I could get my shot. Of course it didn't take long for a gaggle of others to suddenly appear who had no problem getting in the way with their $%^&* phones to grab the shot. Well, some kind of shot anyway. This view is a composite of 15 shots which I've stitched together to get this pano. My overriding thought while taking the shots was where is the nearest real estate office, I'm ready to purchase!!! So, whether or not this really is what it is claimed to be, I thought I'd share it with you regardless. As I mentioned above, this is a composite consisting of 15 frames. I've cropped it a wee bit, did a tiny amount of straightening, and filled in a few blank areas. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Shutter Priority; ISO 320; 1/400 sec @ f /11.

07 Dec 17 Depending on your educational experience you may or may not identify with today's submission. Obviously I do or I wouldn't be writing this. Back in my youth in Junior High (7th - 9th grades) the boys took mechanical drawing and wood shop in 7th grade and metal shop and craft shop in 8th grade. Simultaneously the girls took home economics, 2 semesters each, of foods and clothing. The classes weren't electives, but were required. The only thing wrong with this was that the boys should have had one year of home economics and the girls any two of the four classes the boys took during 9th grade. Now of course we do none of this! My semester of craft class taught me leather working to such a degree that I was able to generate a fair amount of income in my 9th and 10th grade years which along with my paper route kept me well situated in spending money. But I digress. My intended point was to go back to both my Jr Hi mechanical drawing class and several of my undergrad biology classes when being able to draw things of high accuracy required the proper equipment of which a good set (read high quality) of pens and pencils was a necessity. Back then the best was made by a company called KOH-I-NOOR. Imagine both my surprise and delight to be walking down the streets of Old Town Praha and have the guide point out to us the KOH-I-NOOR outlet in the city. I didn't get everything the guide was saying about the company/store as I was a bit distant taking some other photo but I did hear her mention something about the company having some relationship with the city. Looking on-line I can't quite substantiate what I thought she said, but no matter. Just seeing such a store there brought back many fond, and some not so fond, memories. As an aside, note the tiles making up both the sidewalk and the road. Something similar to this was prevalent throughout the city. I've manipulated this a small amount to correct for some distortion introduced by the photographer, removed a piece of litter (whiskey bottle), and taken out a few blemishes in the plaster that were more of a distraction than character addition, and cropped off a small amount at the left hand side. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/25 sec @ f / 5.6. It was highly overcast with intermittent showers.

08 Dec 17 Breaking from tradition again this Macro/Close-up Friday to once again look at some sculpture in which you can zoom in on and pick the individual areas to look at close up. While both Jan and I were collectors of books, we really got into it shortly after we were married. One of the things we did early on was join the International Book Society (IBS) which offered monthly book selections, as do all book club type organizations, but these were of exquisite quality and similarly priced. One of the first books we purchased was titled Splendors of Christendom: Great Art and Architecture in European Churches, and carried a $75 price tag. Recall this would be the 1967/8 time frame. That was equal to one month's rent. The book featured color plates pasted onto the individual pages, illustrations galore, and a wonderful narrative. I still have the book, consider it one of the greatest treasures in our library, and have loaned it out only once. You can now get used copies for as little as $10 but depending on quality, you can also get them at a much higher cost. You can also view the book on-line at several library locations. My reading of the book and looking at the plates was one of the reasons I wanted to visit Europe and having now done so ever so fleeting I truly want to go back and visit the churches featured in the book. As well as many others, and other cultural settings. I'm thinking a two month tour by auto in which I control the locations and duration at each might be the ticket. While we were in Budapest we were told on several occasions that the New York Cafe in the Hotel Budapest was a great place to eat but nothing else was ever said about it. Our two day extended stay there had us residing 1 block from it and while we never ate there I did take several photographs of the magnificent architecture of the exterior, one of which I'm sharing today. Sadly, I didn't realize until today while working on this mailing that the interior is the equivalent to many of the opera houses in its opulence featuring many paintings and statues. I was one block away! Take a close up look at all the figures making up the exterior of the building. Can't imagine such work being performed today. Some of you may have seen the interior of this hotel from the movie Hotel Budapest where it was shot, a connection I didn't make until returning home. I have done quite a bit of work on this image as I had to take it under some difficult traffic conditions, both vehicular and pedestrian, and from a difficult angle. Although I shot it near mid day, I thought about placing some directional light on the Statue of Liberty from the floodlight near her foot, but I didn't. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 1000; 1/2500 sec @ f / 9. Settings were chosen to compensate for a tired and not too steady photographer.

11 Dec 17 For those of you who remember Thursday's submission, as well as those of you who don't, we are going to walk about another half block and make a left turn which will place us on the outside of the Church of Our Lady before Týn which dates to the 14th century. While I'm not certain, I believe Týn means Horšovský Týn, Czech Republic. The main entrances to the church face one side of the old town square. This image is of the door located at the north portal of the church. The portal was created by the Parlér workshops and belongs among the most treasured monuments of the high Gothic. The relief above the doors, my reason for taking the photo, illustrates the scene of Christ's crucifixion, where alongside Christ we see also the two thieves crucified with him. The detailed stonework shows the tiny figures of the souls leaving the bodies of the dying thieves; for the soul of the thief on Christ's left, who blasphemed even on the cross, devils are fighting in a wild frenzy, whereas the soul of the thief on Christ's right, who found faith in Christ on the cross, is being carried to heaven by angels. The original relief is currently exhibited in the St George Convent; this one above the door is a faithful copy. As was the case in a large majority of the buildings/churches we saw during our visit, this portion of the church was being repaired as you may observe at the base of the image. When you visit Praha be sure to seek out this end of the church and see it in person. I've straightened and cropped the original a small amount but that's it. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/15 sec @ f / 5.6 in the rain.

12 Dec 17 Yesterday we looked at the north portal of Church of Our Lady before Týn which is also known as the Church of Mother of God before Týn or sometimes just Týn. It has been the main church of the Old Town section of the city since the 14th century. The two twin spires rise to a height of 80 meters and each is topped by a set of four small spires. The face of the church faces west out onto the square and looking in the direction of the Vltava River, also called the Czech national river, and immortalized by Smetana in his tome poem The Moldau, yet another name for the river. The area holding the church was occupied in the 11th century by a Romanesque church built there for foreign merchants. That church was to be replaced by an earlier version of the current church in 1256 and then that replaced by the current edifice starting in the early 14th century requiring two centuries to complete, the southern tower not being finished until 1511. The building originally held the sculpture of George of Podebrady (1453 - 1471) a Hussein and a huge golden chalice which was the symbol of the Hussites. Following the lost battle of White Mountain in 1620, the era of the harsh recatholicisation, part of the Counter-Reformation, the sculpture of the heretic king and the chalice were removed in 1626 and replaced with a sculpture of the Virgin Mary with a giant halo rendered from melting down the chalice. She is strikingly visible centered between the two towers roughly at their base. The church was heavily damaged by fire following a lightening strike in 1679; renovation work was carried out in 1876 - 1895, and again in 1973 - 1995. Interior renovation is ongoing. Not fully comprehending what it was I was photographing, we never went inside and that was a terrible mistake. Now we really need to go back. The houses (buildings) immediately in front of the church prevent getting a full photo of the front, so what I'm sharing is as good as it gets. The fountain at the bottom of the frame is a memorial to Jan Huss, who is credited with bringing Christianity to the area. More about the man and the fountain in another mailing. I had to straighten, skew, and crop this to compensate for the sloppiness of the photographer. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f / 8.

13 Dec 17 We left off yesterday with making a comment about Jan Hus. Today's submission gives you a full view of the fountain from the back side, the section of the fountain containing most of the statuary. It is quite impressive to see and this photo certainly doesn't do it credit. The fountain occupies a prominent position in the square and is the only piece of art there. Before this fountain existed there was another, the Krocin Fountain carved out of marble, but it was removed in 1862 for reasons I haven't determined. The current fountain was constructed between 1903 and 1915 and was quietly unveiled in Wartime Prague on 6 July 1915. As I briefly mentioned yesterday the fountain is dedicated to Father Hus, a Czech theologian, Roman Catholic priest, philosopher, master, dean and rector of the Charles University in Prague, church reformer, inspirator of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation. The fountain bears inscriptions addressing him as being the one who brought Christianity to the region. As the writing is in Czech, I couldn't read them but there is an English placard addressing the subject that I could. Directly in front of the fountain at the angle I'm facing is the Church of Mother of God before Týn. After John Wycliffe, the theorist of ecclesiastical Reformation, Hus is considered the first Church reformer, as he lived before Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. His teachings had a strong influence on the states of Western Europe, most immediately in the approval of a reformed Bohemian religious denomination, and more than a century later, on Martin Luther himself. He was burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church which included among other theological topics those on ecclesiology and the Eucharist. Apparently not a good time to be a reformer, but then when is it? This is a composite of four frames. I merged them together, did a little cropping and removal of litter, and added the sky as it was a totally light grey overcast and ugly. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/500 sec @ f / 6.3.

14 Dec 17 Among the many things that impressed us on the trip, cleanliness was certainly high up on the list. For the vast majority of places we visited the locations were immaculate. While this wasn't true of everything and everywhere, the areas where tourists were not likely to be as one example, in general the grounds were litter free and the areas virtually void of graffiti. That was a nice change from what we see around here, especially in the larger cities. Of some interest was the cleanliness of the restroom facilities, both in the establishments and those on the streets. The street facilities were as if you were the first one to use them although you did have to pay to access them. The prices were very reasonable and I'm rather certain this contributed to the condition in which they were maintained. The hotels and restaurants were equally nice but of course there was no fee to use them. One restaurant in particular really impressed me. Of course this was a high end establishment, located at the Old Town end of the Charles bridge, and not your everyday eatery. The view from the dining area was of the bridge, the decor beautiful, the food absolutely gourmet, and the service matched the view as well as the cuisine. But in the men's room, which was as pristine as the main dining area, the urinals were lined with slices of freshly cut citrus, and smelled as it you had just walked into a fresh fruit stand. The presentation was that of orange slices centered and flanked on the right with lime slices and lemon slices on the left. Now that's about as swank as it gets and something I'll never forget. You almost didn't want to use them! I've cropped the original some, attempted to remove some annoying highlights, and straightened it a wee bit. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 1000; 1/60 sec @ f / 8 with fill flash.

15 Dec 17 Back to ground zero today (home) as we look at something common but which can be beautiful in its own right although I'm guessing most of us see it and simultaneously just see right past it. Although I hate rain as you are all aware, I love going out immediately after it has stopped raining to photograph its results, especially the plants with droplets of water either standing on them or dripping off them. A few days back we had a gully washer of a rainfall but it fortunately didn't last too long and ended while there was still some beautiful light to work with. It happened to be on a Saturday when the women of the church were holding their annual Christmas cookie bake sale which is a very highly attended as well as anticipated event (made $1,700 with the cookies in bags priced at $2/bag) with folks coming from all around the Kitsap Peninsula standing in line - like on Black Friday - before the doors open. All this in a small church whose membership is roughly 40 folks. Part of the parking area landscaping includes a few small evergreens and some larger shrubs. The rain was still clinging to the needles of the evergreens and the light shining off the water droplets when I arrived to lend a hand if needed - it wasn't - so I just went outside try my hand at capturing a drop or two. Of all the shots, I like this one the best. Maybe you will like it also. This is straight from the camera. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 500; 1/200 sec @ f / 5.6.

18 Dec 17 In keeping with a common practice of lists of 10, today's submission is #10 in the countdown to the end of the year's mailings which will conclude the 12th year we've been doing this. Sometimes hard to accept how fast things move. Part of Old Town Praha is called the Jewish Quarter in which are located 6 or 7 Synagogues depending on how you recognize them. This shot is from the interior of the Pinkas Synagogue which is among the oldest in the group of the Synagogues and the oldest Synagogues in central Europe. It is the finest Renaissance building in the Jewish Town mainly recognized for its interior. It was founded in 1479 by Rabbi Pinkas and then rebuilt in 1535 by his grandson. It has been damaged many times by natural disasters, mostly flooding, and as a result has been frequently modified. In 1960 the Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust was opened in its interior. Written on several of the interior walls are the names of all the 77,297 martyred Jews from Bohemia and Moravia. This shot is of one of those walls. If you zoom in you can read their names. In addition to this, there is also a collection of children's paintings from Terezin ghetto, a ghastly testimony for the 8,000+ children deported by the Nazis of which only 242 were known to survive. For some unknown reason I didn't take any photos of these children's drawings, something I've been kicking myself for not doing ever since I realized it. But this image is likely a sufficient statement on its own. Other than a small amount of straightening, this is as it was shot. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/25 sec @ f / 5.6.

19 Dec 17 Picking up from where I left off yesterday. The Jewish quarter is a tourist attraction in addition to being a historic site, but in order to see any of it you must purchase an admission ticket which comes at various prices depending on how much you want to see. I'm guessing the monthly admission exceeds a million dollars. Included in the set of attractions is the Old Jewish Cemetery of which you can get a wee glimpse through the exit gate of just a small portion. All the inhabitants here died naturally be it of old age or disease, but had normal lives. The amount of available land was so limited that the deceased were buried on top of one another. They were interned directly in the ground and not in coffins as we are accustomed to doing. In some areas of the cemetery they are stacked 12 high. As such, there isn't sufficient room for all the headstones so they are as you see them in the image. Some history of the stones might be of interest. The custom of erecting headstones derives from the 6th century A.D. Prior to that headstones were not used as it was believed that the faithful did not need them, their memories serving as the words memorializing them. The headstones are mostly sandstone which has a tendency to turn black. The inscriptions generally consist of name, origins, year of death, and something of the deceased characteristics. Originally rectangular, in the later part of the Gothic period the headstones were rounded on top. Then in the Renaissance the stones became framed. At the turn of the 16th and17th centuries the stones started to become decorated with shields; often a symbolic division of window and door was incorporated. There is a wealth of history in this particular cemetery and should you visit Praha I recommend it to you highly. Just be prepared to have some time on your hands to fully appreciate what it has to offer. It is located in the middle of the several Synagogues, so there will be much more to take in while you are there. This is what the camera captured. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 500; 1/125 sec @ f / 5.6.

20 Dec 17 Number 8 in our countdown. Back home for today's submission. With the last several days of torrential rain I think it appropriate for something both colorful to offset the gray of the skies as well as displaying a bit of moisture to substantiate the rain claim. This is a shot of the smoke bush that lives on the side of the house near the garage. It is a lovely smokey maroon and green in the spring and summer, but come fall it loves to show off. This was taken before it put on its coat of many colors, in the previous rain spell, but you can get some idea of what lay ahead. This is what the camera saw. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f / 9 with fill flash.

21 Dec 17 The wash cycle ended sometime Tuesday night and rapidly moved on to the dry cycle Wednesday morning with a vengeance. Situated as we are in a major convergence zone, the transitions can be impressive. As I write this under totally clear skies filled with stars, the temp is at 30F with 6+ hours to go until peak cold. No doubt by the time you read this ice will be forming/formed wherever there is standing water. The cold dry is a wonderful shift from the warm wet, especially so since it can bring with it some wonderful views of both mountain ranges and for today we are looking at a section of the Cascade range taken from just a few miles north of our abode. The mountain at the far left, and the only one whose name of which I'm certain, is Mt Baker. To identify any of the others I/you would have to refer to a chart with their names. With or without the names, the sight is equally spectacular. If any of you come to visit I hope you get to see at least one day like this. This is a composite of 8 frames. I've straightened it a bit and done a tiny amount of cropping. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 250; 1/800 sec @ f /10 in strong winds! Note the white caps on the Sound.

22 Dec 17 Number 6 in our countdown to the new year. Back to a good old macro shot for today since I haven't shared one for a few weeks. This is of a lily we purchased at a local plant sale last Spring. Nothing special about it, I just thought I'd give you a break from all the travel stuff. Its called a Yellow Fawn Trout Lily and I'd never before seen one so I decided we should add it to the front landscape. The image as you see it is about 4x so that will give you a rough idea as to its size. As such, we've located it among the other small plants near the front entrance. Now all that remains is to see if it makes it through the winter to grace the yard next year. The original image has been greatly altered by painting with black to remove all the distracting foliage leaving just the petals. I shot it indoors in the studio. Nikon D300s; 105mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200, 1/60 sec @ f /20 with fill flash.

Christmas #5. It is generally early winter before I see the god rays displaying in the empty field just down the road from us, but luckily for me they showed up in force a couple weeks ago and when I saw them I knew I had my Christmas day image. As I can't possibly add to the message, I'll just quote Luke, chapter 2. In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” I've manipulated everything considerably. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 250;1/250 sec @ f / 9.

26 Dec 17 #4 We FINALLY got our wish for a white Christmas on Christmas Eve with 2" of teeny weeny flakes that was just enough to keep most of the congregation home from a beautiful service of lessons and carols. The choir of which Jan and I are 25% represented fully 1/3 of those present so it was a bit disappointing considering all the work put in by those participating. But the snow was beautiful and we woke up Christmas morning to a mini wonderland, mini only in that all we got was the 2". With luck, the luck part being the weather, it's up to the Skagit to shoot eagles and landscapes later in the week. With the weather forecast that of rain for W - F it's going to be a waiting game. This year however we got to have a white background here for our tree so I thought I'd try shooting it against the backdrop of the two windows facing out to the snow. It worked O.K. but also gave some interesting shadowing on the walls courtesy of the skylights. All-in-all I like the effect. The tree was done in layers this year over several days so the cherubs could participate. First the tree was assembled, then the lights put on which is a bit of a chore with an 8' tree placed, as usual, too close to the wall. Then the cherubs hung all the ornaments which comprises 50 years of collecting. Then Jan popped the corn and the three of them strung and hung it on the tree. Overall it makes for a rather nice presentation. Of course the job of disassembling it all falls on just the two of us in a couple of weeks. On the right side of the tree is our Christmas present to ourselves. It is a 3 dimensional wood carving of a chart of Puget Sound showing it in its entirety and the associated depths. Plus it is lit and we can control how the lighting goes, much like all these new laser light displays for lighting the outside of your homes. So a rather nice gift. We have been looking at the artist's work for the past several years and last year I told him if he ever put our little community (Eglon) on it I'd buy one; he did this year as did we. This is a composite of two shots. I made two long exposures to get all the tree lights showing using both ambient and incandescent lighting; the chart with no reflections from the incandescent shot was used for the final image. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 64; 1.6 sec @ f /9 on a tripod.

27 Dec 17 #3 This is a shot of our pond as it looked last January but with the cold spell we are in it is starting to look this way again. I thought it appropriate for both the season and the weather. Nothing special, but the splashing water does make for some interesting ice formations. This is basically as it was shot. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; ISO 400; 1/125 sec @ f /6.3.

28 Dec 17 #2 For our last creative image of the year Jan truly surprised me and chose this very modern art approach. Our local community of Kingston, where the ferry crossing Puget Sound docks on our side of the pond (Puget Sound), has been decorating the parking lot area with Christmas lights for the past several years. Each yer the display grows and this year it is really nice, besting most of those types of displays which charge to view. This is of the main tree and is just a simple tree with a few lights but lots of toys/presents displayed at its base. Here is a link to a youtube video (not mine) of very poor quality but it will show you the tree. If you are in the general local and haven't seen the light yet, do so before the end of the year. This is straight from the camera with a filter (Topaz Impression 2 - impasto fingerpaint) adjustment applied. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 100; 1.3 sec @ f / 9.

29 Dec 17 #1 We finish 2017 on Macro Friday with just such an image. This is obviously a poinsettia as will be recognized by any of you who like this usual Christmas time plant. Until our second tour which had us stationed at El Toro, CA, I always thought of them as primarily a hot house plant. Imagine my amazement to find them as 4 - 8 foot hedges surrounding most of the buildings on the station and in full color at Christmas time. Just one of the things that made that tour special. Here I generally see them primarily as decoration and in full display in the churches. Not so sure I like the newer plants of various colors or multi-colored plants such as this one, considering the deep red one the most lovely of them all, but no matter the color I do find the plants interesting. As this is the last submission for 2017, I elected to go in close on the actual flowers, some of which are spent, like 2017, and some of which are just about to burst forth, like 2018. So a bit of the old and the new all in one spot. You really can't appreciate the shape of the flowers until you get really intimate with them; it almost looks as if the yellow lips have been grafted on like you see with many cultivated cacti. This is straight from the camera. Nikon D500; 105mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f /18 with fill flash.