Winter eSessions are kind of cozy but really they take much cooperation with the weather. This was really a perfect January day to do one, too. I think it was about 60º or close to it. The sky was overcast for a lot of it with just enough brightness. And of course the most important ingredient….another great couple. Fun, easy going, and into it.

I think it shows :)

Here’s the slideshow….just click the image.

 I kinda miss the summer. I’m starting to make some plans for summer trips so that helps a bit, but I really miss the warm sun.

I was looking at the sunflowers yesterday. They are still standing in the garden because I never cut them down. The birds really enjoy them that way, especially the Cardinals. Anyway, they are obviously dead, but they still look really cool. I want to head out back tomorrow to photograph them. I may also bring them inside and make a post-mortem arrangement out of them and photograph that. I love the texture of dead sunflowers. I don’t think other flowers look as interesting when they are dead.

Six degrees on the thermometer this morning!

There’s what I call my Zen Waterfall in the unheated vestibule, and it was frozen with little icicles coming down it this morning when I went to get the paper. Had to get a picture of that.

If there is one question I get asked time and time again, it’s how do I get the colors I do in my photographs. Until now, I have kept that a closely guarded secret, but today I have decided to tell the world how I do it.

It’s a button.

It’s actually button #54 on my Xkeys, and I have named button #54 quite appropriately. So, whenever I see an image that has great potential, it might look pretty darned good right out of the camera, but when it gets button #54 the magic really happens.

So, that’s it….. button #54.

WOW.

Winter eSessions can be a challenge with the unpredictable weather, cold, lack of vegetation, etc. But, I kind of dig the colors that winter offers. I did an eSession with Jenna and Robbie today and I’m not ready to blog it but I really liked this shot when I was downloading.

This was my Christmas card design about five years ago and I ran across it while doing a little housekeeping on the ole ‘puter today. Still appropriate. So today, it is a New Years Card!

I haven’t been to Ocracoke for almost two years now and I miss it so much. I wish I could sit out on the beach on a warm winter day like today and just clear my head.

This was Jack’s first Christmas with us and he loved eating the wrapping paper.

Going through some old images that I overlooked. I always liked this image but never really paid it much attention. It’s a group of Hmong women near the village of Sapa in north Vietnam. They love color and so do I.  Today is its day.

In 1986, Dan Harrison (see picture above) was on holiday in Kenya  after graduating from Northwestern University .  On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dan approached it very carefully.  He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant’s foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.   As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.   The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.  Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.   Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Dan was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son.  As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dan and his son Dan Jr. were standing.   The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dan couldn’t help wondering if this was the same elephant.   Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dan’s legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn’t the same elephant.

:)