Day 304 - Reflections in sharp focus

I don't know. Maybe I play too much with reflections. There do seem to be a lot of photographs on this blog that involve the reflection of one building in the windows of another.

But I'm delighted with this one. A bright, sunny fall day gave me this brilliant reflection of the roof of the barracks building in the windows of the second floor of the stores opposite. I love the colour and the sharpness of the reflected image and the way the windows frame the details from the barracks building.

And I'm pleased with the balance created by the reflected tree branches to the left of the image and the foreground branches to the right. Cool. Not a bad photo taken with the Olympus on full automatic mode.

Day 303 - Snow on the pumpkin

SNOW! On October 30. Fredericton had snow on October 30. Not only that, we had a Snow Fall Warning from Environment Canada, with up to 15 centimetres expected. If the temperature had just be the slightest bit lower, we would have been knee deep in the stuff.

And, if you recall, on April 20 Fredericton had a late-spring snow fall and I just could not believe it. Now, just six months and ten days later, more snow. That officially abridges the seasons out here to just two: spring and winter. No summer, no real fall.

So we end up with this strange combination of fall and winter, together. Leaves littering the ground, caught up in a blanket of snow. Crazy. I went for a walk this morning to try to capture just how it feels to have snow before Hallowe'en and this is what I came up with. First, still ripe maple leaves in the snow.

Then, cedar buds, still brown and not yet burst, with a crown of the white stuff. This shot comes from our front yard, where my newly seeded grass pokes its heads through the new-fallen snow as well.

I don't know how nature responds to its own strangenesses. Will the buds die? Will they refuse to bloom? Or will they simply ignore the snow's brief appearance and continue with business as usual once the sunshine and (slightly) warmer temperatures return this week?

And finally, snow on the pumpkins on the front porch of a house up the street. Snow on the pumpkins! Imagine that. I had to play a little with the aperture and shutter speed to get these shots since the day was quite dim. And I did find that the autofocus tried to find the flying snow flakes rather than the leaf, bud or pumpkin at which I was aiming. But, other than that, easy peasey, from a photographic point of view.

Day 302 - Fallen leaves inhabit the grate

Some days, I walk along through my life with camera in hand and just keep snapping photographs. I don't know what is different about those days but I find that the photos I take often surprise me.

Most days, I set out with an image in mind (I want to capture the wind, or I want to capture fall, or I want a photo of this building or that building or this bridge, etc.) or a beautiful picture just presents itself to me. Those are the normal days. I get home, load the photos onto the computer and choose the best shot of that particular subject.

Then there are days like today. With no real plan in mind, I wander around and take photos of anything that looks visually interesting. Like this grate littered with leaves, or yesterday's stop sign. And quite often, I am surprised and pleased with the result.

In this case, I'm pleased with the way the leaves inhabit the grate and with the fall colours that are present in the shot. I like the mixture of curves and straight lines and the tiny glimpse of the tree's trunk to the bottom right of the shot. This kind of picture is not so much about camera technique but about a way of seeing. That's not often my strong suit but sometimes I surprise myself.

Day 301 - The power of snow storms

Look at that blue lock. Isn't it amazing? It seems to be brand new. And shiny and deeply blue. And it's holding a stop sign closed.

This is one of those New Brunswick things we just can't figure out. All over Fredericton, you find stop signs that have been folded and locked closed. Someone somewhere has the keys and, if needed, can unlock the sign, open it and then lock it open (see the holes centre, on the sign itself, and left, on the brace to which the opened sign will be locked).

We think (and I stress the word "think" because we don't know) that these locking stop signs exist to deal with snow storms and power outages. If stop lights are knocked out, the City just sends workers around to open these signs and attempt to regulate traffic that way. Maybe it's a good idea. But it certainly does speak to the lack of faith we all seem to have in NB Power, doesn't it?

Or maybe it's a healthy respect for the power of snow storms out here in Atlantic Canada! Did I mention we're expecting between six and 12 centimetres of snow on Sunday?