snowscape

This is what we're missing, folks! When fresh snow comes, it makes things beautiful. I love to look at large, open areas where there are no footprints. Okay, I'll make an exception for animal tracks... I like seeing those in the snow.

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This is from a few pics that I took during a trip to the library the day after our big snow. Did we forget already? Yes, it snowed so much that commuting was a nightmare. We shoveled our paths, just in time to shovel them again. There were high piles in the parking lots, left by snow plows. And then a warm rain took it all away in one night.

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Next time it snows, I'm going to ask the snow plow drivers to push it all in my driveway, so that I can make up for what we've been missing. Mrs. Craver has some crazy ideas for snowmen that she got from a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon.

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Hey, look... I refreshed the profile pic. That is what I look like these days. I put a new self portrait on Facebook, too.

we felt robbed

The snow started coming down pretty good Friday afternoon, and it made the evening commute so slow, that it was the top story on the news. My employers graciously let us out early (with pay).

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There was lots of shoveling on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was time to recover, but as I drove around with my wife, I found a few places that I wanted to photograph. I did more than just make mental notes, I talked to Mrs. Craver about it, and got some good confirmation that these sites were worthy of another visit. I had the day off of work on Monday. So the plan was that sometime before lunch on Monday, I would drive back to two or three of these locations with a tripod, and take my sweet time to capture a few snowy landscapes.

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But that night, Jack Frost skipped town and the temps rose and it rained. And rained. And rained. These were the big, fat, heavy raindrops that normally make beautiful music on the rooftops. Not this time. We both lay there with eyes wide open, expressing concern over how much our beautiful snowscapes might change into something that was not quite the winter wonderland that we were hoping for.

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When I looked outside the next morning, I saw that only the heaped snow remained. All of the flat blankets of snow had melted down to the grass. I felt like I had been robbed, my hopes deflated. (sigh) I should have been keeping track of the weather reports.

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But... The sadness lasted all of five minutes, because this was my 24th wedding anniversary. Monday for me, was primarily about enjoying my Mrs. Craver and celebrating our life together. And that aspect of the day could not be taken away from us. :-)

decked halls

Have a gander at that beautiful thing in the frame. Oh look--there is a photo of mine inside there, too! ;-)

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Wow, some folks asked me to submit some of my winter scenes to deck their halls for a Christmas party. What an honor! I gave them a baker's dozen. They'll give them away after the party like door prizes.

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There is one other contributor to this photography idea. It is none other than our pal, Mr. Dave. I hope to come away from that party with one of his prints. He has a knack for nice animal photographs. I'm outta here, Folks - gotta go warm up my voice... Mrs. Craver and I are joining friends to go caroling tonight! Brrr... it's 20 degrees out there. It feels like 10. Forget the voice... I'm going to pack some layers on and warm up my head, hands and feet!

struck by Lightnin'

Target shooting has always been a fascination of mine. Some of you may remember stories I've told about archery. But there has also been darts (tungsten) and throwing knives... basically, if you need to aim it, I want to practice it. They say "practice makes perfect," but I have been struck with the reality from an entirely different experience... that practice makes me frustrated, because I have never been made perfect in any of these disciplines. In fact, my nickname at the archery range was Lightnin'. Sounds cool, right? But do you know why they called me that? It's because "lightnin' don't strike the same spot twice."

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Fortunately, I don't have the same problem with photography. My unsteady hands took this, somewhat long exposure (1/3 sec) without a tripod by laying down and using the dock as a brace. I expect that I hold my breath for just about all of my pics. Anti-shake technology is a big help, too. When I do not like the position, cropping and straightening is a simple (post-editing) fix.

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Aim... focus... steady... click... Meh, that'll do.

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Check out: 11 Surefire Landscape Photography Tips from Digital-Photography-School.com

near and far

Bolingbrook is a suburb of Chicago with upwards of 70,000 residents. You can actually see the downtown skyscrapers from here, but it is far enough away, that we still have a little bit of elbow room.

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This is a construction site on the East side of town. I do not know what they are going to do with this yet, but when you stand close enough, the light posts disappear, and the piles of gravel have the illusion of being bigger and farther away than they really are. I hope these folks are not in a hurry. This spot is fine, just the way it is now.