Now we’ve had several days of thaw. It did not even freeze at night. Both night and day strong winds blew. I have cut 7 fallen trees off the road. A lot of the snow has gone. I hate thaws in winter. They are dreary and a mess.
Even the mountains have very little snow on them.
My neighbour ploughed the road and now it is a sheet of ice.
A few of you have commented about the bird pictures so I thought I’d tell you about my camera.
It is not a real fancy one. It is a Canon SX50 and costs about $300 now. A few years ago I had a Canon SX20 and liked it a lot. It had 20 x optical zoom. (Digital zoom is not a lot of use.) That camera drowned in the flood of 2010. I was delighted to find the SX30. But that was a horrible camera. It was extremely slow to focus and was the pits for close-ups. I need close-ups for flowers. So last fall I hunted for a camera and at first ignored the new SX50. But when I started looking at it I realized it was a much better camera than the SX30. It does reasonable close-ups as well as having a good zoom (it goes to 100 x digital!), and focusses fairly quickly. Even though the digitally-zoomed pictures are blurry, they are a great tool for bird identification.
I rarely use automatic exposure, particularly for birds, as this would give you a dark silhouette against a sky or snow. So I keep the thing on manual. Otherwise I don’t use a lot of complicated features. I quite often, however, crop and juggle the image on the computer.
Most of the pictures are not professional quality, but they are good enough for what I need, and composition is what is important to strike a mood. You can have a photo that is technically fabulous but if the artist does not have a good eye for composition, the picture will have no feeling.
One more thing: if you wish to be informed when I make a new post, please contact me via the comment or contact form and I will add you to the list. To comment, click on the title and scroll to the bottom of the new page.
I had the good fortune to spend a few days with you at Nuk Tessli, a few years ago, you were quite happy when we left as you enjoyed your solitude in your beautiful wilderness hide away. I have read I believe all your books so I will be looking forward to your new book. Thank you for the blogs as I love living vicariously in the beautiful Chilcotin through them. Also your photos are stunning! I am also looking forward to reading all about the adventures of Ruby, so please do add me to your blog list!!
I echo the first commentor, the photos are stunning. The road looks very icy, wouldn’t fancy driving on that. Yes, please, add me to the ‘new post’ list! If we don’t see you before, do have a happy xmas and a great new year.
Thank you for all the detailed information; mine is a Nikon and simply doesn’t do the trick.
Your first image is so like something Tom Thomson would paint. Dreary or not, it’s still beautiful to me.
As for being notified when you have a new post: that would be great! thank you so much.
Barbara recently posted…As Time Goes By
Oh my goodness, your road looks absolutely treacherous!
Thank you for telling about your camera. It takes excellent photos – – your bird close-ups are just stunning.
Yes, I’d like to be informed when you make a new post. You may be interested that I listened to you on CBC back in the 80’s and have read your books as well as followed your blogs ever since. I’ve been a silent admirer – (since this is the first time I’ve commented) and am glad of this chance to tell you so. I too have a Canon SX50 and enjoy taking photos and studying the flora and fauna in Terrace or wherever I travel. The Chilcotin has enticed me back several times. I don’t have such a large fan club as you – just my family – so email is what I do, not blog – yet.