Winter Wonder

jeffreaux2

Well, we have had our white Christmas here in Baton Rouge. Snow is rare here, and in my lifetime I have never seen it snow as hard, and for as long as it did last week. It caused some issues with electricity and traffic, but for the most part it was good fun.

1- First light...


2-


3-Tough exposure there....in more ways than one!!

divamum

Oh my goodness - the look on your dog's face is PRICELESS!!!!

Beautiful pictures, as always and looks like y'all had fun romping in southern snow. The weird thing is while you guys were getting that last week, we had 60+ degree temperatures... in between two rounds of below freezing! Oy, what a world.....

urbanaries

Wow, love the shot of your house! That will be quite a memory for years to come, I'm sure! Looks reeeally cold. And those snowflakes are HUGE! I'm surprised your lens stayed clean and dry!

And your dog is too cute! Love the sweater. He/she seems totally nonplussed.

jeffreaux2

divamum wrote:

Oh my goodness - the look on your dog's face is PRICELESS!!!!

Beautiful pictures, as always and looks like y'all had fun romping in southern snow. The weird thing is while you guys were getting that last week, we had 60+ degree temperatures... in between two rounds of below freezing! Oy, what a world.....

It was nuts!

The dog didn't know what to do at first.....how to take it. I was working nights and got home a bit before daylight....and she wouldn't do her business until I physically carried her through the yard to a "clean" spot under a tree. After she investigated some she didn't want to stop playing in it.

jeffreaux2

urbanaries wrote:

Wow, love the shot of your house! That will be quite a memory for years to come, I'm sure! Looks reeeally cold. And those snowflakes are HUGE! I'm surprised your lens stayed clean and dry!

And your dog is too cute! Love the sweater. He/she seems totally nonplussed.

I had begun taking shots well before daylight. All I could think of was getting a shot to Schmoo. She had a tough time here with the heat...in New Orleans a few months ago....here
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=106655

Everything got wet to be honest. I set my flashes up in the yard in some of the before daylight shots, trying to protect them with plastic bags. Of course the wind blew them away. I just towelled everything off now and then. The camera didn't get it quite so bad. I was using an umbrella. Not for lighting, but for the more traditional purpose.:D

The dog..... .....she was walking so funny......high stepping.....as if she were afraid to put her feet down in it. Was hillarious....but she did NOT want to stay inside.

Agnieszka

Love'em .... how beautiful!!!

Swartzy

Whoohooo! Rock on! Snow? What's that? Now I'm convinced the Martians are in New Mexico..... Beautiful shots Jeff.....poor pup is going to be confused for the rest of his life. I love your snowy house scene.....that's one to be treasured as you may never see it that bad again. It's only going down to -12 tonight....will send you a can of it should you like

Shima

So the first one I thought "ah magical"
The second one I thought "fun loving good picture"
And then the third one I just started laughing and couldn't stop

Flutist

LOVE THE POOCH!!!!

heatherfeather

Ah beautiful. Did you get many broken trees with all those leaves + snow on them?

I am just cracking up to picture you outside in a snowstorm setting up lights.
The things we do, eh. But it is worth it!

jeffreaux2

Thanks everyone for having a look...the pup indeed put on quite a show in all that white stuff.

heatherfeather wrote:

Ah beautiful. Did you get many broken trees with all those leaves + snow on them?

I am just cracking up to picture you outside in a snowstorm setting up lights.
The things we do, eh. But it is worth it!

Broken trees....yes. That live oak in my front yard lost a limb, and it may be too high for me to trim out myself. I also lost a few shrubs that were pushed over by the weight of it all. They said on the news that we eventually got 6 to 8 inches depending on what part of town you were. Thats unheard of here! Global warming my A$$.

Unfortunately the broken trees around town led to several power outtages...and we were without power most of the day. Upon its restoration i discovered that losing power while computing had a bad effect on my pc. It very nearly stumped me this time by somehow losing the drivers for my RAID array of harddrives. Still havent figured out how that happened, but am glad to say I have it all working and lost no data even though I had to lay down a new install of windows XP.

As for you....and your...ahem....fantasies.....of me setting lights up in the dark...in the snow...let me fill you in..

I was dressed in pj bottoms, socks and crocs, and a fleece pullover. None of it matched of course, and the stuff was REALLY coming down....and I am trying to manage it all beneath an umbrella. It WAS funny .

Heres one of the before daylight shots...


...and the arbor on my patio where we always do photos of the girls for proms and such...


That is the same spot as ....

grimace

divamum wrote:

Oh my goodness - the look on your dog's face is PRICELESS!!!!

Ditto!!

clemensphoto's

Great shots!! The dog - priceless!!! The image looks as if the dog just scoped up some snow and is about the throw it.

heatherfeather

jeffreaux2 wrote:

As for you....and your...ahem....fantasies..... It WAS funny .[end quote]

HA HA!
Yeah! Way to sacrifice your dignity for the shot!
I just had a funny situation like that last week. I was checking out Photogmammas POD gallery and I was loving all her long exposures... You know the cool long exposure + spin shots? And so I decided I was going to try the magic. So I sat in my office chair and used a little trial and error with the monopod + camera between my knees and spun in my chair while attempting to keep my face and the camera steady for about 1/2 an hour. Then all of a sudden the doorbell rings, and it is UPS to deliver my new lens from B & H (yes the 70-200 2.8 IS now belongs to ME!) So I jump up to answer the door but was QUITE dizzy. So with great "gracefullness" I fell back and forth between the walls of the hallway and fell up the stairs to the entry way ALL in full view of the UPS guy. And when I finally got to the door I was reeling back and forth so exremely dizzy it was so funny I was giggling like crazy. (Litterally crazy.) I am positive he thought I was totally drunk or worse. And then he was so shocked he got back to the car before he remembered to have me sign but by then I had returned to open up the box. And I had to stumble back to answer the door and face him in my hilarious condition AGAIN. Yeah, pride goes before the fall. I am living proof.

Here is the shot just before my embarrassing situation:

Nikolai

Beautiful landscape, gorgeous girl and one mean dog!
Great series!

SitterS

The dog shot is priceless!

Elaine

Oh, those are beautiful and fun and hilarious! What special shots for the album! You can all reminisce about the "Great Snow of 2008"! The dog is too much. And those flakes are enormous! And the description of you getting set up ...someone should have taken a shot of you!

@heather...your dizzy story was too funny!!!

TristanP

The dog photo is awesome!

NeilL

Great fun, eh? And bloody good exposure! Just goes to show a good photog can take on anything that comes, in pjs, with plastic bags, whatever!

Your dog's behaviour is exactly what my kitten did after a long drought broke in outback Australia. The drought had lasted some 5 years and this little kitten had been born during the last year of it. It had never seen rain in its life. Then one day inches of rain bucketed down in the space of a couple of hours and there was flash flooding in some parts of town, including where we lived. Water was flowing under our house. When the rain eased and the kitten went outside it was totally disoriented by the change in the world. Where before there was solid hard dusty red earth now there was a flowing tide of red liquid. The kitten tried to walk as usual, but got a shock each time it put down a paw. After each step it would lift the paw high and shake it and stare at it in disbelief. It was all too much, and as soon as I sat again in the arm chair the kitten rushed onto my lap to seek solace!

jeffreaux2

heatherfeather wrote:

jeffreaux2 wrote:

As for you....and your...ahem....fantasies..... It WAS funny .[end quote]

HA HA!
Yeah! Way to sacrifice your dignity for the shot!
I just had a funny situation like that last week. I was checking out Photogmammas POD gallery and I was loving all her long exposures... You know the cool long exposure + spin shots? And so I decided I was going to try the magic. So I sat in my office chair and used a little trial and error with the monopod + camera between my knees and spun in my chair while attempting to keep my face and the camera steady for about 1/2 an hour. Then all of a sudden the doorbell rings, and it is UPS to deliver my new lens from B & H (yes the 70-200 2.8 IS now belongs to ME!) So I jump up to answer the door but was QUITE dizzy. So with great "gracefullness" I fell back and forth between the walls of the hallway and fell up the stairs to the entry way ALL in full view of the UPS guy. And when I finally got to the door I was reeling back and forth so exremely dizzy it was so funny I was giggling like crazy. (Litterally crazy.) I am positive he thought I was totally drunk or worse. And then he was so shocked he got back to the car before he remembered to have me sign but by then I had returned to open up the box. And I had to stumble back to answer the door and face him in my hilarious condition AGAIN. Yeah, pride goes before the fall. I am living proof.

Here is the shot just before my embarrassing situation:

So...are you going to share the results......in a more traditional size?

FWIW.....You look enchanting when your dizzy!

Congrats on the new lens. I LOOOOve mine.....and am sooo glad I didn't buy an F4, a non-IS, or a third party lens. I knew if I did I would always have that nagging question of whether I made a good choice. I know for a fact I did with that lens....reguardless of price. It's worth the dime!

jeffreaux2

NeilL wrote:

Great fun, eh? And bloody good exposure! Just goes to show a good photog can take on anything that comes, in pjs, with plastic bags, whatever!

Your dog's behaviour is exactly what my kitten did after a long drought broke in outback Australia. The drought had lasted some 5 years and this little kitten had been born during the last year of it. It had never seen rain in its life. Then one day inches of rain bucketed down in the space of a couple of hours and there was flash flooding in some parts of town, including where we lived. Water was flowing under our house. When the rain eased and the kitten went outside it was totally disoriented by the change in the world. Where before there was solid hard dusty red earth now there was a flowing tide of red liquid. The kitten tried to walk as usual, but got a shock each time it put down a paw. After each step it would lift the paw high and shake it and stare at it in disbelief. It was all too much, and as soon as I sat again in the arm chair the kitten rushed onto my lap to seek solace!

That is a pretty near description of the dogs take on it...

...as for exposure...

I am comfortable with my methods as it has served me well. Use the histogram. Expose to the right...and...

Have a happy holiday season Neil!!! :photo

jayegirl

Great shots! These will be treasured for a long time!

NeilL

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Have a happy holiday season Neil!!! :photo

And you, Jeff!