After Christmas thoughts...

Here is my dog, Ralph; he will be 5 years old next month...the strange thing is that it seems like yesterday when I brought him home on my lap in the car. He was small enough to hold easily in my two hands...he has brought me on a journey in the past few years; despite the fact that he can drive you crazy playing with his toys and wanting you to throw all the squeaky balls, he has taught me humility and the joy of small pleasures...he doesn't worry about his appearance, he wakes up happy every day looking forward to the adventures ahead of him, no matter how small they may be...just a walk is a joy for him, playing with a toy I toss is enough for Ralph, being beside me is all he asks of life. In many ways he has enhanced my life, and in many ways he has been my tutor in the joy and fun of being alive and appreciating every day...


Here are a couple of recent images taken on my walks with him.

Two more images taken yesterday with the G12..

haven't been able to get anything really good lately..hate the weather in winter..everything is drab; trying to do my best until there is snow or ice to photograph..although, maybe it isn't the weather but my way of looking at things..sometimes, when I am walking, it's easy to see images or envision a composition..lately, not much has struck me as interesting...

New point and shoot!

These are a couple of images taken with my new Canon G12 point and shoot camera...for years I have used the G9, which is a fantastic little camera..but my husband surprised me with this one a couple of days ago..the advantage to the G12 is the articulating LCD screen..you can use it in the normal position on back of camera, but if necessary, it can be snapped out and rotated 180 degrees making it easy to take images with the camera in any position...the images I've taken so far, appear sharp and crisp with good dynamic range..it still has the ND filter..which comes in very handy at times..more images to come..the other one in b&w is a macro..the major complaint I've heard about this camera is that the spot for your thumb is small...but it's ok for me because I have a small hand, but for a man, it could be a problem avoiding hitting buttons on the back accidentally...what's interesting is that I was going to get the Sigma D1x..but when I read Darwin Wiggett's review and found that it had a lens cap (which must be removed prior to shooting) and poor performance in low light despite the large sensor, I knew it would be a pain in the neck..it's a lot better to have a retractable lens with built in protection, which the G12 incorporates.

December mornings

Weather here has turned cold, nights in the 20s, and I'm having a hard time finding good images to shoot up in the woods...there is a lack of color..everything appears brown or dull green, so black and white images are going to be the norm for this month; at least until there is some snow...took this one in a clear cut area that was logged a few years ago..this is one of ony three standing trees. Just a lucky tree, I guess..

thoughts on aging

This image of sunset was taken a few days ago...a cold front was moving into the area that evening and the sky was spectacular..I should have taken a few minutes to drive to the reservoir to get some reflections of this incredible color; instead I was walking Ralph in the backwoods so had to shoot through the trees...

Now that I'm over sixty, it is often that I reflect upon the aging process and the changes it has upon a person...the one thing that is irritating me lately is the senior citizen discount offered by so many businesses...I often wonder what that's all about..does it imply that seniors (and who came up with that word for older people anyway?) cannot afford anything anymore and have to be taken care of by being offered a discount or is it a way to lure people back to their store or restaurant? It definitely is not a reward..there is something insidious about it..like we are doddering old codgers...

Now that that's off my chest..the other early morning image was taken the other day just as the sun touched the trees as it cleared the horizon..