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And the lake will emerge again

Posted by Photonstopper on March 9, 2013
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Photo: Snow pellets on ice. Photo by James Guilford.

Snow pellets appear as powdered sugar on an otherwise-smooth sheet of ice.

I took a little midday trip to the Lake Erie shore at Huntington Beach Friday. It was cold but at least the wind was not hard. Still, by the end of my brief session my fingers were stiff and red from holding my Canon PowerShot G11 bare-handed. I could have spent a couple of hours there exploring the scene; the light was gradually changing and there were so many interesting shapes and patterns to discover. My schedule and cold-hurting hands forced me to leave all too soon. The lake was frozen over for as far as I could see. Mounds of ice had piled along the sands, apparently from previous thaws followed by freezing. Ice and snow, recently deposited, gave texture to open areas of ice. Spring comes soon, ice will merge with the waters it hides, and the lake will emerge again.

Photo: Fractured ice sheets piled on a beach. Photo by James Guilford.

Plates of broken ice pile over one-another on the sandy beach.

Memories of the ice-jammed beach

Posted by Photonstopper on February 10, 2013
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Photo: Icy lake and beach in the Greater Cleveland Area. Photo by James Guilford.

View to the east, along Huntington Beach, with Downtown Cleveland in the distance and a wine bottle on sandy ice.

A little jaunt to the Lake Erie shoreline this morning gave us dramatic vistas of sky and ice! The lake is only partly frozen and great plates of ice have been driven into piles near-shore off Huntington Beach in Bay Village, Ohio. Lighting conditions were constantly changing with the sky. Clouds overhead were white while those low to the horizon took on a brownish hue. Temperatures hovering in the upper-30s (F) allowed me to explore the area a bit and take it all in. By afternoon our overcast had returned. We have, still, memories of the ice-jammed beach.

Photo: Shattered ice offshore on Lake Erie. Photo by James Guilford.

Shattered ice piles off-shore from Huntington Beach.

Gorgeous surprise of a day at Nature Realm

Posted by Photonstopper on February 9, 2013
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Photo: Fallen wood with green lichen and snow. Photo by James Guilford.

Layers of decaying wood fiber decorated by lichens and snow on the forest floor.

Surprise! Instead of a cloudy and cold day, we received a cloudless and mild (~ 30 degrees F) Saturday! It was a fine occasion for a little walk at Akron’s Nature Realm park. The woods were loaded with Black-Capped Chickadees that were being hand-fed by some visitors. I was most fascinated by snow and shadow. What, to my eye, really stood out was a pinwheel of decaying wood capped with lichens and snow — an amazing touch of color in a seeming monochrome landscape.

Photo: Bright spots in the shadows illuminate snow formations. Photo by James Guilford.

Spots of light fell on snow formations in the shadows of the woods.

Midwinter color comes in patches

Posted by Photonstopper on February 3, 2013
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Photo: Winter landscape at Hinckley Lake, Ohio. Photo by James Guilford.

Dry reeds in a wetland area add a touch of color to a winter scene.

I haven’t been outdoors for much photography this winter. So when we made a brief foray to Hinckley Lake this afternoon, even a few snapshots were better than nothing! The lake was, except for a wet spot or two, completely covered with snow over a thin layer of ice. The sky was mostly cloudy with gaps providing brief interludes of bright sunshine between long periods of dull light. Among the fields of white and gray woodlands, there were splashes of color. I hope to get out and spend some real time exploring the winter scenery. Til then, these little visits will have to do.

Photo: Boats covered with snow and ice. Photo by James Guilford.

Boats wait, covered in snow and ice, for spring thaw.

A cold celestial dance before bed

Posted by Photonstopper on January 21, 2013
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Photo: Close conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter.

Close conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter.

Despite the fact it was 9 degrees (F) and just before 11:00 PM, I simply had to go out and try a shot of Monday night’s close conjunction of the Moon with Jupiter. Skies had cleared and the day’s occasional snows stopped, so I had a good opportunity. I stepped out on to our sidewalk and, tolerating the frigid breeze as long as I could, shot several exposures, bracketing the shutter speed. I only got one or two that were acceptable to me, mostly due to focus being off. The image I’m sharing is sharp enough that (in the uncompressed original) it even shows hints of Jupiter’s cloud belts, diagonal here in its tiny disk. None of Jove’s moons show due to the short exposure needed to record Earth’s Moon. Pictures done and shared here, on Twitter, and on Google+, it was off to slumberland having witnessed a cold celestial dance before bed.

End of a lovely day, the beginning of hard weather

Posted by Photonstopper on January 19, 2013
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Photo: Cloudy sunset portends a change in weather. Photo by James Guilford.

End of a Lovely Day, Beginning of Hard Weather

It was a lovely day today, considering it’s mid-January. The sky was mostly-clear and sunny and, though very windy all day, the temperature hovered around 50 degrees (F). It really did look and feel like a fine day in March. We are expecting a rather dramatic change in the weather around here. The temperature is expected to gradually slide from today’s high to single-digit lows over the next few days. We may also get another dose of snow midweek. This evening’s sunset was lovely, even as it portended the coming changes with a lovely burst of sun, a patch of blue sky, and encroaching quilted clouds. Tonight’s sunset was the end of a lovely day and marked the beginning of hard winter weather.

A warm and frigid morning

Posted by Photonstopper on January 3, 2013
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Photo: Cold dawn over water. Photo by James Guilford.

Baldwin Lake on a Frigid January morning.

It was a very cold night, last night. The skies were partly-cloudy offering Earth the chance to send its feeble warmth drizzling into space. The day dawned clear, however, the first time we have seen the Sun in some time. Warm-colored rays were softly lighting the predawn sky. The land was wearing a coat of frost and open water a thin jacket of ice as I drove through the scene and air temperatures ran from seven to 13 degrees (F). There were several possible places to stop and take it all in but I’d time for only one and chose Baldwin Lake, Berea, Ohio. I shot as many photos as my cold-aching hands could bear before fleeing to my car to continue my travels. A warm and frigid morning it was!

Coasting into 2013

Posted by Photonstopper on January 1, 2013
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Coasting on New Year's Day.

Coasting on New Year’s Day.

Looking to get out of the house for a while we took a little drive around the area. A quick shop at Target for a couple of items and off we went to Olmsted Falls and their lovely East River Park. I hadn’t even considered that others might be in the park this overcast, cold, and snowy New Year’s Day but, as we entered the driveway, we were surprised to see the parking lot well-used. There’s a lovely hill at the southern boundary of the park with a nice, gentle slope down to an open field … perfect, today, for coasting (aka “sledding”). While especially popular with families and their little children (that gentle hill doesn’t give much speed to the sled) folks of all ages were having a great time, and you could tell that by the delighted screams and the smiling faces of sledders who were leaving for the day. There was, however, one somewhat sad sign of the times: in a space between the field and the parking lot stood a concrete trash barrel. Next to the trash barrel were piled the colorful remains of broken plastic sleds. When I was young, a sled was something you kept and used for years, perhaps even handing it down to one’s own children. It didn’t matter whether the sled was a wooden toboggan, a sled with steel runners, or a saucer-shaped metal disk, it was a durable item. Most of today’s sleds appear to be made of fairly thin molded plastic in a range of colors and shapes. The modern sleds (actually a type of toboggan) are fast and cheap, and so, fun and affordable. It’s just sad to see them broken and discarded at the end of the day. Coasting into 2013 we wish you a happy new year!

Photo: Broken, discarded plastic sleds. Photo by James Guilford.

Broken plastic sleds, discarded in the park. Kind of sad.