First Snow of 2025

 We got just over 7", quite a lot for STL.  It really brought out the birds!

European Starlings

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House Finch

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Dark Eyed Junco

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House Finch

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Bluebird

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Song Sparrow

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Cardinal (female)

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Carolina Wren

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A Way Of Feeling...

"Photography is a way of feeling, , of touching, of loving.  What you have caught on film is captured forever...  it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything." - Aaron Siskind

MOLLYS C

I posted this photo to one of the online photo sites I frequent, with the caption:  "Just a little slice-of-life. I drive by this spot about 1/month, had a little time to wander this time. I don't know why I like this sign so much, but I do. Once upon a time there was a convenience store here, but it has been an empty lot for ages."  I received a comment I especially like, enough to share here:

"I know what you mean. I think we like these seemingly ordinary things because maybe they act as reminders of happy times, or they just serve to ground us when we’re living busy lives. I get that."

That made my day.  But I'm easily amused, I guess.

 

A Good Crop - 2024

 Regular readers should know that I usually do a post of my favorite images from the previous year.  Titled "A Good Crop", after Amsel Adam's quote "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop".  

In the spirit of Ansel Adams' quote, I've tried to pick my 12 favorite photos from last year (2024). I don't claim anything I've done to be "significant", especially by Ansel Adams standards.  So we'll stick with favorites)...

Meanwhile, I never got around to finishing / posting my selection for 2023, so that's next on my to-do list.

A Good Crop 2024 (chronological)

Leftovers

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Alton Slough

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Little River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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Horses, Dogwood

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Sparrow Mother and Fledgling

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Bluebird Display

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Straight Lines

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Against The Odds

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Driftwood

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Carolina Chickadee

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Leaves On Picnic Table

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Pittsburgh, PA, USA

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Click the TAG to see previous editions.

 

Album Cover Challenge #118

 On 12/31/24, I posted my entry into the Album Cover Challenge #158.  It got me thinking, then checking...  It had been a rather long time since I had posted an Album Cover entry;  10 entries over 40+ rounds of the contest.  I figured to post those entries over the next few weeks, filling in the backlog

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 One of my favorite challenges over at 365project.  Check out the TAG to see the associated blog posts.

Here's my entry to Album Cover Challenge #118, way back in early August 2020:

The explanation:  Album Cover Challenge

Haiku for a New Year

 A new year starting

The weather turns cold again

Soon the snow will come 

November Winners, BetterPhoto.com

  Better Photo has announced the winners of their November contest, and I had a second place, along with 3x Finalists.  Always fun to get some recognition!

2nd Place winner:

Pittsburgh, PA, USA - Travel / Places

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Finalists:

Lunch Break

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Do Not Enter

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Driftwood

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So, that's 1x Second Place, 3x Finalist and 0x Staff Favorite.  I also had 15x Editor's Picks, too many to post here.  So everything received some recognition.

Check out my photos HERE.  

More Mary

  Part of the "Trail Critters" collection of sculptures placed around the rails-to-trails paths in our area.  "Located in, where else, Maryville. Along the MCT Schoolhouse Trail near Drost Park, nests this striking 9-foot-tall red cardinal."

Very different kind of day than my previous photos of this critter...  Taken 12/29/24.

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In a motel, baby, like the Holiday Inn (0421)

      Another in the series of photos in and around hotels while travelling.  Today is shots from August 2018.  Once again, the post title is from the old Elton John song:  CLICK.

Check out the TAG to see more from the series.

This was taken during a trip to the Nashville, TN area.  Pretty sure we stayed at a hotel on the south-east side of town, along I-24.  Maybe Smyrna? Almost certainly an IHG property.

Album Cover Challenge

 One of my favorite challenges over at 365project, but also one I haven't been very active in this year.  I'm closing out the year with an entry into the 158th edition of the challenge.  I need to update the TAG, looks like I haven't cross posted here for quite a while.

Here's my entry:

The explanation:  Album Cover Challenge

And all entries

Simple

 

Ornamented

 Christmas decoration at Drost Park....  They had several of these baubles hanging among the bare trees in the park.  

I actually appreciated the occasional splash of color around the park.

The best camera is the one you have with you?

 There's a saying I have repeated often:  "The best camera is the one you have with you".  And I do believe that, with a caveat.  Point being, I (almost) always have my cell phone with me, so that camera is (almost) always with me.  I can't carry my "real" cameras everywhere, much less my various lenses.

BUT, that does not, by any stretch, mean that the phone camera is the best camera for any task.  There are photos that I can take with my 400mm zoom that my phone camera can't come close to matching.  Most notably, my bird photos...

Here's a baker's-half-dozen of bird photos taken December 2024.  All with the big-zoom.  

That said, a high percentage of my favorite shots, overall, are taken w/ my phone.  9 of the past 10 photos on my Instagram (as of today) are phone photos.

  Dark Eyed Junco

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Red Breasted Woodpecker

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Northern Cardinal

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White Throated Sparrow

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House Finch

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House Sparrow

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Northern Flicker

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White Throated Sparrow

 I love the splash of yellow...

Wide or Telephoto...

 My new-ish cell phone comes with built in focal lengths:  0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x.  It's a nice feature added from my previous phone.  So, what's the point?

Well, 0.5x is wide angle, has the effect of stretching out the distance.  3x is telephoto, and has the effect of compressing distance.  On a recent walk, I took both extremes of the same spot.  Here's a comparison:

Wide Angle (0.5x).  The trail seems to go on forever

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Telephoto (3.0x).  If there were a distant object, it would seem closer.  the trail seems to end (turn, actually) just ahead.

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So...  which is better?  Obviously, it depends.  In this case, I prefer the wide angle version, it stresses the feeling of solitude, the endless trail.  But if there were a person, or people) on the trail, the telephoto would add a sense of immediacy, of "closeness" with nature.