March 5-11, 2013
March tore into Anchorage Alaska with a lot of snow. I don’t have any firm details to give you on how much snow we got. Rest assured it was a lot. Or at least a heckuva lot more than we wanted. During the week, I tried to use the snow as a source of inspiration for the 365 Photo Project.
So the first shot of the week was taken in the gym parking lot.
I was taken with all the tracks in the slush from the cars. The lines and patterns overlapping and ultimately making random design. I’m sure someone much smarter than we could determine a formula for the apparent randomness of these tracks. I tried to reduce this down to an almost black and white image.
Each spring, when the birds return to Anchorage, there is a Salmon Berry tree (I think) that sits outside my window. In march there are red berries still on the tree that hang there all winter. That is until the waxwings come back. Then they begin flitting around the trees in huge groups, landing for a few seconds and then flying away with berries. The berries end up everywhere. The worst place is on our cars in the parking lot. I still have broken berries on my car as I write this.
When the birds would circle around the tree outside my office, I would run to get my camera to get some cool action shots. I wasn’t able to get anything usable, but I did get this raven.
You notice the red berries? This raven kept watch on my office for a bit that day. Raven is a very important bird in the native Alaskan mythology being both a creator and a trickster.
As the snow receded and then came back, interesting things began to be seen, like these dead rhubarb leaves.
I was drawn more than anything to the textures of the concrete and the dead leaves.I also like the way the light is hitting everything.
On Friday, we had another in-home concert for work. This concert feature Avi Avital an incredible Israeli mandolin player. He captivated the audience for about an hour or so with his solo playing.
This applause shot was taken as we was finishing up for the evening. This was tough shooting in low light with slow shutter speeds, but I like how it came out. You can really see how much everyone enjoyed his playing.
I had take a couple of other shots of the late blooming Christmas Cactus. This is another one showing how far along it is.
Sunday we decided to go to the movies while it snowed outside. With some friends, we saw Oz. This shot was taken from the parking lot of the movie theatre.
This is one of the first shots I took intentionally on a snowy day while snowing. This is tough work shooting in the snow. Lighting is hard to judge. White balance is also tricky. Which is why shooting RAW is my new favorite thing! You can change the white balance later!
I had been doing mostly found shots lately, and the shooting where I was getting out was feeling good. So after the gym on Monday, I took a long drive home to get this shot. I wasn’t happy with the drive or the shot. But it was serviceable to bring the week to an end.
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