No time for a photo journey today, though I may take a few more shots of the orchid later while it still has flowers! I have a few more winter tree photos from the Experimental Farm to post... but today I thought I'd post the last of my icicle photos. I was amazed by how crystal clear this icicle was. In real life, I could see right through it. I was almost expecting to view my photos on the computer and find the icicle invisible!

Here's yet another icicle photo... At first I thought the roof in the background was distracting, but the more I look at it, the more I think it actually adds something to the picture. The icicles are getting more interesting every day. It has been melting the past few days, and today there is freezing rain. I took some interesting shots a couple of days ago which are still sitting on the camera. Hopefully a few turned out!

Here's another icicle photo. I was pretty enthralled by the detail on the tip of this 'ice talon' (probably best viewed big). This is one of the few photos of it that didn't come out blurry. I hope my icicle photos don't get tiresome. Truth be told, I only have a couple more to post. My work schedule won't let me take any new photos until Dec. 28 at the earliest. I've taken another look at my snowboard binding macros and deemed the rest unpostable. Maybe I'm just in a picky mood. Assuming I don't change my mind, I'll post my remaining icicle photos in the coming days, and maybe a Red Bubble reject if I find one I deem worthy. Other than that, there might be a brief hiatus until I have a chance to take more photos.

I hope that some of you people out there in Internet Land have a few days off from work/school and manage to enjoy the holidays!

Time stands still for no one. But at this time of year, it certainly seems to. This is another of my icicle macro photos. I thought it quite suitable for posting on the longest night of the year.

Today I took the macro lens out to photograph icicles. I got a few interesting shots. I was in a mood for simplifying things, and I was striving to make my shots as clean and uncluttered as possible. I intended to convert everything to monochrome, but when I finally sat down with the images, I decided I like my icicles better as nature made them - with a subtle tint of cold blue.

This photo was an exception. The icicle was bright white, the background baby blue, and for some reason the base of the icicle had a pinkish hue... The whole thing looked like a decoration one might find on a cake at a baby shower. Despite that, I really liked the photo. It's not the typical cliched icicle photo. I therefore decided to rescue it with monochrome conversion.

I'm not even sure if this can be called an 'icicle', as it was not hanging down, but rather jutting up from the railing on my porch. Are icicles analogous to stalactites and stalagmites? Is there a special term for ones that jut upwards?

Graem bought a new snowboard, with boots and bindings to go with it. I thought the bindings would make a good subject for indoor macro photography and learning to use my off-camera flash. I like the shiny metal and the fact that there are so many intricate parts. The colors are also a bonus - shiny red and silver are quite appropriate at this time of year. I was using a piece of green felt as background, which gives a Christmas feel to some of the photos. Unfortunately none of the ones I deemed postable include the felt. 2009 has been a terrible year all around, and this is the closest I'll come to feeling festive, I'm afraid.

This photo shoot was a real learning experience for me. I thought I'd have a bunch of great shots... but in the beginning my lighting was all wrong. In the later pictures, I had the lighting under better control, but you can see every bit of dust and cat hair on the bindings... not to mention my own fingerprints. I had taken great pains to clean them off, but nothing can hide from the macro lens! If I get a chance to try again before Graem goes snowboarding, I'll have to implement special sterile technique. I'll have to wipe the bindings off with a lint-free cloth, and blow the dust off with the air-puffer I use to clean my lenses. I'll have to steal some gloves from work to make sure I don't leave fingerprints!

This was probably the best photo I took in terms of lighting. I have some others where the lighting isn't as good, but the composition is maybe more interesting. Look for them to appear soon either here or on Red Bubble.