Week 15 - 365 Day Challenge

Magique by J. Binford-Bell

April is such a tease. The beginning of the week was magic which is what Magique means in French. And the above picture was such magic that I immediately posted it on my timeline and so it officially is not in this week's challenge. But that one day when the ponds I visit thawed and the ducks and geese came back dominated my photos for the week because the remainder of the week was back to winter.

Day 98  - hanging gardens

Not a different crop of the opening picture but another framing of it with the lens and the accent is on the reflected trees and not my labradoodle, Magique. If you are a photographer with dogs you know they put themselves in the picture quite often and sometimes that is a good thing.

Day 99 - Hanging Garden in Sepia

Bad weather was back on Day 99 so I played with my photos taken after the ponds melted and wished for a return to calm pond weather. I personally do not think sepia always works except for outlaw portraits but playing with lots of different post processing options I quite liked this one.

Day 100 - Less than Stellar Weather

April in the mountains is iffy at best. Snow comes at night when the temps fall and turns to sleet and icy rain as the temps rise. I was sitting in my car and debating whether I needed to get a rain coat for my camera before I took it out in such stuff. Digital cameras do not like moisture, but in the arid southwest United States we do not get a lot of it. The car was warm and the defroster on and I was on the verge of calling off any outside photography when I noticed the shadows through the rain/snow mix on the windshield. The wind made the streams of moisture go at an angle.

Day 101 - Snow Returns

At least the camera was allowed outside on this breeze and freeze day. I didn't stay out long. I was resisting the return of winter, if indeed it ever left. I was having trouble with Facebook not posting photos on my fan page where they were suppose to be or just anywhere on my timeline. The weather was awful so I played around with Google + for posting my 365 day challenge photos, looked off my computer for the majority of the day. And on Day 102 to cheer myself up posted the photo below taken on the day the ponds thawed.

Magique up to her belly in just above freezing weather got more likes and more comments and more views than any of my more artistic ventures during the week. Maybe it was my black and white mood.

Day 102 - Water Dog

So even though the weather had not improved or maybe because of it I returned to that folder of idyllic pond reflections. The green made me happy. But the continuing bad weather didn't.

Day 103 - Serenity

Day 104 - Remains of Winter

Only thing saving the week, in my opinion, was the purchase of the latest update of my photo editing software. It does marvelous things with black and white, which like sepia, is not my favorite. I am a color person. But the clarity and definition I am able to now get in B&W delights me. I promise more color next week if the weather provides more spring and less winter.