Monday, January 24, 2022

The ice came and went, but the snow
is hanging around for a little while

Like all southern states, snow and ice storms is a weather event in North Carolina. We've seen very few of either in our 4 1/2 years here. I recall measurable snowfall twice our first winter, once the second year, none the third year and twice last winter, neither of which was more than an inch or two. 

We'd gone without snow or ice storms this season until two weeks ago. An ice storm came through, and fortunately for us, we were on the fringe of that, so we got very little ... and incurred no power outage. But three days ago, a bigger storm swept up from the south and merged with an arctic front, leaving us about 3 1/2 inches of snow. 

On most of the previous snowfalls, temperatures warmed up quickly, making the snow disappear usually within 24 or 36 hours. Three and a half inches of snow was small beans in the years I lived in Indiana, so that didn't concern me. But this time, while temperatures got into the 40s during daylight hours in the aftermath, nighttime temperatures dropped below freezing, and I hear we'll stay in that pattern for a good week or so. 

Thankfully, most snow on the streets melted by the end of that first above-freezing daytime sunshine. But the stuff on the grass and in the nearby woods is still hanging around.

All to introduce my venture through the neighborhood again, on the morning after the snowfall, to document the new-look landscape. More pictures can be found in a gallery at my site at SmugMug.com. 

There was just enough warmth on the driveway to create a frame of the snaking road to the top of the hill (above). Land on the other side of the fence seen in the photo below -- part of a 100-acre plot owned by a man who died in June 2018 -- has been sold, and the machinations are in force to develop the property. A driving force to development is construction of the southern leg of the I-540 toll loop around Raleigh, which began two years ago and should be finished in a year or so. If we choose to use 540 on our commutes to Indiana, it would probably carve about 10 to 15 minutes off our trips. But I'm very unhappy about losing that wooded area.   


It was 10:30 a.m. when I got out for this shoot, but the plethora of footprints I came across (above) told me that plenty of neighbors had already been out for their daily walks. We have either or so people in the neighborhood who walk for exercise. 

Above and below: Skies were still overcast as I made my walk-through, so made all of these pictures without the use of a polarizing filter. 


Above and below: I was pleased to see some lingering autumn leaf colors on a few deciduous trees. 


Above: One neighbor chose to a hand blower to remove the snow from his driveway as soon as possible, certainly to ensure safety for any pedestrian traffic, but possibly to avoid any melting snow from refreezing overnight when temperatures plummeted to the 20s. 

The familiar bridge over a creek (above) at the addition entrance (below), where more tire tread marks etch a slushy tapestry. 


The homes above and below are seen by traffic shortly after entering the addition because the entrance road splits into a Y at this point. 


The tree trunks and green buffer provide an interesting frame for the home above. Below, a figurine in the front yard of another home. 


Tire tread marks and footprints present an interesting roadway abstract (above). Below is a closeup of one of the footprints. 


Another leaf straggler (above) and more tire tracks (below).
 

Looking at roadside ditches on the return trip, I came across the scenes you see above and in the first three photos below. 




Above: I first saw this bird fly onto a mailbox next to the road as I approached it. I stopped in my tracks and went to lift my camera and zoom the lens all the way to 300mm, but as soon as I adjusted the lens and before I could focus, the bird flew a short distance to the left and landed on this driveway. It froze there for a moment, so I was able to grab this photo.  

Above and the two remaining photos below are from my yard. Above are sacks Lee Ann had used for growing potatoes during the growing season. They are situated along one of the raised garden beds along the driveway to the detached garage. The first photo below is an angle I liked of the pergola formation covering the back deck with the rear roof and vent in the background. The second photo below is an angel figurine perched on a bench in the puppy memorial garden, where Lee Ann's dogs Molly and Bear are interred. 


Sunday, January 16, 2022

Myrtle Beach, Part X: The Beach

Everyone -- or most everyone -- goes to the beach to, well, go to the beach, right? We do, even though neither of us is a sunning/tanning fanatic by any means. We just enjoy the calming effect of the waves lapping the shore and the visual of what seems like endless water everywhere beyond the shore. 

This post devoted to images captured along the beach is presented in two segments. Images you see in the top half were taken with my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm di VC PZD lens, mostly on Dec. 13. Those on the bottom half were taken the same date, but with my iPhone 11 and late in the afternoon into early evening. You'll no doubt be able to spot those. But for those who have trouble doing so, I'll insert a separation hash line ( - - - - - -- ) between the daytime/6D shots and the ones taken with the iPhone.

Leading off the post is a 6D shot of something I've not photographed before on the beach -- bicyclists coming right at me. The first image below, obviously, was not taken on the beach. But is a great perspective shot from a high elevation of the beach and coast looking north toward North Myrtle Beach. 


Above: This shot of the same guy seen in the lead-off photo is more like the type I've gotten before. He was making his return trip in the other direction. Obviously, I was still hanging around, certainly long enough to see the double-back. 

Above and next three below: We saw a lot of birds -- mostly seagulls -- this time around, including a phenomenon we hadn't notice before: A congregations of large groups at the same point on the beach late in the afternoon, as if waiting for the evening tide. I tried to record an illustration of this in the very last photo below, taken in the evening with the iPhone. 




Above: My challenge here was to try and fit the etched-in-sand message into the frame. If you can't make it out, it says: "Tyisha, I love you."
 
This gal (above) was using her phone to photograph the seascape, but the fact that you don't see the phone she was using makes the composition more compelling. I first thought she was standing arms folded in reflection while gazing out on the ocean.
 
Above: Lots of dog walkers on the beach, but that has never been unusual in my many trips to this and other Atlantic Ocean beaches. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Above and next four below: Lee Ann got me interested in making compositions integrating tall wild grass using the water as a backdrop. So these pictures start the portion of images taken with my iPhone. 





Above and below: I could have brought these images up in Photoshop Elements to restore some deail in the tall grass foreground, but I wanted to ensure the focus was on the buildings backgrounded by the colorful sunset glow. 


Above: A portion of one group of large birds gathered for evening tide make up one compositional element in this photo. Another is the guy walking toward his girlfriend or spouse, with partial backlighting casting him in a silhouette. The soft water and sky colors private a nice secondary element, I thought.  

Above and below: These two photos were taken about 10 minutes apart, the one above being first. But that was enough time to give the setting sun time to change the sky coloring. The view looks south toward the downtown boardwalk area, which is marked by the Ferris wheel.  


Above and below: It's not unusual to see foot and paw prints in the sand on the beach. I'd never stopped to preserve any I'd seen previously in a picture until that beach visit on Dec. 13. In the footprint composition above, I liked the cluster of elevated sand below the toes ... and the small piece of shell just above it to the right. The paw print was very close to the footprint, so I'm presuming the dog was walking with the person. 


Above: A beachside sand creation decorated for the holiday season. 
 
Above: On our walks on the beach, it's become common to come upon somebody taking a photograph of someone else using the ocean as a backdrop. That was the case again on Dec. 13. I also was in a backlight position when I came upon it, so ... I grabbed it. And I really liked the diagonal shadow the photographer cast on the sand. I made a monochrome version of this, which I usually do with  my backlight photos because I usually like black-and-white silhouettes better than their original color versions. But there was something about the natural sepia tint all over the image that I really liked, so you get the original color instead of the monochrome in this post. 
END OF SERIES