signs of spring

burst, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox, heralding spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It was a perfect day for it, too! All around, signs of life returning from winter's sleep are showing.

premiere

premiere, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

This is the first crocus I've found this year. It's at Grandmothers' Garden in Westfield. Spring will soon be here!

emerging

emerging, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

More signs of impending spring!

month 2

month 2, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

This is a mosaic of the second thirty days of my 365 project. I have managed to take at least one picture every day for 60 days now!

Some days, because of the weather, I've found myself scrounging my office or apartment for camera fodder. But I think it's stretched me, and I've found some different subjects from my usual fare.

It has also made me think more about what makes a good photo, and reminded me that good subjects are everywhere.

St. Thomas Cemetery, West Springfield

comfort, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Despite having driven by this cemetery hundreds of times, I've never stopped there before. Yesterday, I remedied this situation by wandering around, looking at all the interesting statuary there.

busting out

busting out, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Evidence that spring is coming, and winter will not last forever, no matter how it feels in the middle of February.

The first 30 days

The first 30 days, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I've been at my 365 photo project for a month now. Here are the first thirty days' worth.

spectacular

spectacular, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

The sun goes down later and later every day. Right now, it goes down a few minutes before 5:00; just perfect for catching wonderful sunsets as the workday ends.

drip, drip

drip, drip, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Yesterday was a grey, damp sort of day. I caught these waterdrops at Grandmothers' Garden in Westfield, coming home from the polls.

sunrise season

Wednesday morning sunrise, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

The sunrises the past couple of days have been quite lovely. Above is from yesterday, and below from this morning.



I'm trying out the different settings on my camera. The first pic was in "dawn/dusk" mode, and the second in "sunset" mode. Next time, I think I might just use the automatic mode, and see what happens.

365 project

Since I just got a new camera, and it's a new year, I've decided to do a 365 photo project. What this means is that I'm going to try to take at least one photo a day for a year.



I'm not going to post them all here, since this I started this blog for different reasons, but I'm putting them all into a set on Flickr here. You can follow along by subscribing to the feed on the set page.

Since I can't do anything the way everyone else does, I started it on December 31st.

The purpose of this project is to not only get in the habit of taking pictures every day, but to expand my horizons a bit by taking pictures of things I might not normally consider. The pic above is of the holiday decorations in my office that I had taken down earlier.

Happy New Year

Here's to a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2010 for us all!

new camera

I got a new camera today, thanks to gifts of Amazon gift certificates and money. I still couldn't afford a DSLR, or even the fancy point-and-shoot that I wanted, but this little beauty has a lot of features and was a really good price. It's a Nikon Coolpix L20. Isn't it purty?

It takes great pictures too, right out of the camera. I'm going to have a lot of fun exploring what it can do!

symmetry

symmetry, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Today was absolutely gorgeous out! The perfect ending to the long holiday weekend.

holly jolly

holly jolly, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate!

magnificent

magnificent, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Yesterday's sunset was a particularly nice one.

SnowFire

bonfire, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Westfield's Dickens Days held its annual SnowFire festival last night to celebrate the winter solstice. There was a good turnout despite the frigid weather, and the bonfire was nice and toasty warm.









It was a nice way to celebrate the return of the light, under the moon and stars.

Solstice

splatter, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. From now until the Summer Solstice next June, the days grow longer and the light returns.

We got gypped over the weekend when the huge snowstorm barreling up the east coast bypassed us, leaving just a dusting here in Westfield. I felt a little left out yesterday morning, watching the news report record snowfalls in D.C. and the surrounding area. I was hoping to get some nice photos of the Snowpocalypse; I had to settle for ordinary snow pictures. I do like these bright red berries against the white ground though, at Grandmothers' Garden.

birches

five, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I found a nice stand of birches in Heritage Park this afternoon. They stand out nicely against the grey and brown of the winter woods.

last rose post of the year, I promise

rosy, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I walked down to Stanley Park yesterday in what turned out to be freezing rain, and found frozen roses still clinging onto the bushes there. This is definitely the latest in the year I have ever photographed roses in the wild!

great white north

great white north, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

We had our first big snowstorm today here in western Massachusetts. Several inches of snow, followed by little ice pellets, and then rain. Fun, fun. But pretty.

swans

I pose for you nao, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Though not quite as nice as yesterday, today was still pretty nice for December, so I headed down to Heritage Park in East Longmeadow at lunchtime today. The swan was more than willing to pose for me.





Unfortunately, the sun was right behind him, but it made his feathers glow, so a bit of glare on the water isn't too much to put up with.

I also took a video of him with my iPod Nano, in which he comes right out of the water and follows me, making me giggle.

on comments

I've been getting a lot of spam comments recently, so I have reluctantly changed the settings to have all comments moderated. I apologize to all of the actual human beings who comment for creating the extra step, and I hope you understand. Perhaps the spammers will get bored with me and go away, and I can go back to unmoderated commenting.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. *g*

impressionist

impressionist, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

The trees along the pond at Stanley Park make an impressionist painting while reflected in the rippled water.