Finally!

It wasn't much, it didn't last long, but it was glorious to stand outside in the crisp wind and be lighted upon by:

Bring on the Snow!!!!

As you may or may not have heard, England is suffering from one of the biggest snow falls in 4 years.

Well, most of England is.

Knowing that chance favors the prepared mind and that mine is nice and new (I keep it in a box so I don't use it un-necessarily) I set up Jill's nifty little Canon S3 on a tripod in hopes of recording a series of images showing our yard filling with with a glorious gift from the clouds.

And yes, the titles are on the correct images.

The top photo was at 9:30am. The bottom one at just before 11 as I returned from my accountant's office.

The kids got out of school early.

They had a 2-hour delay today.

They got sent home just after being picked up.

There is LESS snow in my yard now.

I love the Brits but they don't know JACK about snow.


Cheers.

Happy Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy!!!!!

There are times when being a photographer is exciting and the basis for campfire stories: hanging out of helicopters and airplanes, navigating avalanche-prone mountain roads or avoiding an angry mama moose.

But most of the time its work, work, work. Keywording images for stock publication distribution (boring). Cleaning camera equipment or backing up image libraries (more boring). Filling out paperwork for governments or accountants (the worst).

Somewhere in between those two extremes is time spent creating designs based on the images captured during the exciting times (made possible by the work done in the boring times). Yesterday I was in front of the dual-screened devil known as my computer creating note card designs and as usual took a short break to peer through the curtains into the backyard to watch the birds at the feeder. My spirit soared with delight at the sight of fat fluffy flakes of SNOW falling from the sky.

Just a couple of posts previous to this I had lamented at how my winters seemed doomed to be remembered as the time of extreme rain and wind storms instead of lawns filled with the main ingredient of a well-built snowman. Now, a million unique designs a minute were washing away my cares. I was rejuvenated.

Design on, photographer. Design on.


~James

Could it Really Be....

There's a nasty rumor floating about that there might actually be some white, fluffy-type precipitation coming our way over the next couple of days! That would be simply marvelous since I have both daffodils and snow drops blooming.

My guess is it will never equal the massive dump we saw on Saint Patrick's Day in Anchorage but at
this stage anything would be a welcome change. I should also mention that the SEE ROCK CITY birdhouse in the photo was supplied by my Mom who was kind enough to send me another one for my garden here in England. LOVE YOU MOM!

When the Wind Blows

Winter to me used to be snow, snow and snow (and not necessarily in that order). With those three magical ingredients you could become occupied for hours making snowmen, quinzee shelters or pelting the city busses with snowballs. But for the last 2 years (and perhaps the next three) winter has taken on another meaning.

England is the second island I have lived on that is in the Atlantic Ocean. Despite being a 4-hour plane trip north of the Azores, winter here seems to be the same as it was there: windy and rainy. This morning just around 8am there have been wind gusts of 99mph reported at the Needles on the coast south of London. The winds here have picked up greatly and torrential rain squalls are frequent. Polar winds are to follow the storm but I'm not getting my hopes up for any form of wintery precipitation. In fact, if you were to peer into my head when someone says winter you'de likely see this image flash into my brain. Storm battered coastlines appear to have replaced snowmen.

Experiencing life around the world is part of the life we lead and because of this we can bring you such images. We continue to meet fascinating people and make great friends and often we both wax and wane about the "good old days" when winter meant snow. What will it be like when my kids are grown I wonder?

To view the image shown in various framing and matting options, click the link below to be taken to my ready-to-hang fine art print gallery:

Storm Sentinel


Cheers!

~James