Polar Plunge !!!!

So my "assignment" today was to help out with the Neillsville Polar Plunge-it's put on by the local Lions club and is a great fund raiser for our  Special Olympics agency.....in fact, our athletes have raised the most money every year of the plunge and thankfully, those funds come right back to the local team to help with costs of competition and training. 

My other "assignment" (a self assignment, BTW) was to make some pictures here.  I really needed to get back on the shooting horse again.  The morning of the plunge was below zero and it gradually warmed to +9 at "swim" time.....luckily.  The Lions announce the groups and members and then it's dunk time.  A friend, News Herold Photographer Laura Schmitt  (http://lschmittphoto.blogspot.com/)  was on assignment here also.  The plunge is just a great opportunity to get fun images-expression, action (some faster than others) and shooting something out of the ordinary.  I knocked off about 200+ frames and edited them down to maybe 75 that I liked.  From there maybe 25 keepers.  I wondered how Laura does it-she can only publish maybe one photograph from the shoot and it probably is one a photo editor selects.  Must be interesting and or frustrating to press the shutter so many times and have it boiled down to one picture which captures the story-that's why she's so good.  I didn't have those restrictions and published a bunch to a Facebook album and now here on the blog.
These are some of my favorites.

Daina-our Spec. Oly. Snowboarder

The Lobster-Man

Refreshing Dip?

A couple Colby HS Hornettes

Shadows

I had given my students a word to use as a theme over the past weekend for their shooting assignment-"Shadows."  When I make an assignment like this, I always keep it open to their interpretation, hoping they'll come up with something less obvious or literal.  When someone does, it's more fun for me as a their teacher to see their creativity.  As usual, some didn't start the assignment until after downloads were due, but others did have some good examples and experimented with light and shadow-great to see.  Since this was all on my mind, this morning I decided to pull out a photo from last winter that really had little to do with nature and everything to do with shadow and composition.  This was one of my favorites from that morning.

Fog and Luminance

Schools closed today because of thick fog-really some pea soup out there.  Had a chance anyway to get grades done, keep an eye on the crisis in Madison and then escape to the woods with camera and Molly.  I knew I wanted to make a picture or two, just had a hard time finding the right thing.  Late in my hike, banks of fog would move in and out, which was pretty cool.  Hopefully I caught a little of that feeling.

Fog Bank on the Move

Black on White

Snow Art by Mother Nature

For unknown reasons, I've always loved reading about adventures of polar explorers.  My favorite book on the subject was "Endurance" by Ernest Shackleton.  It's the story of a failed attempt to cross Antarctica by sledge and the struggle to survive during a two year period stranded by pack ice and remoteness.  It's worth a read.  I think part of my attraction to these stories are that I truly enjoy snow and winter and being outdoors doing just about anything.  Call me a bit crazy, but there are times I love the bite of below zero on my skin and the struggle to just traverse deep snow.  For myself, it makes me feel alive.

As I snowshoed yesterday, the wind was up pretty high, but temps were not terrible.  I knew after working my way through the woods, I'd end up out on an open windy field.  I shot a few frames, but there wasn't a lot that caught my eye.  Nearing sunset and cresting the top of a hill,  the forms of the snow drifts started to interest me.  We'd received some rain a week ago, which formed a crust, and more recently, powder snow on top.  The strong winds during the past day or two really sculpted it and made (for me) some interesting forms.  I also liked the warm colors of the late day sun reflecting off of it.  I stopped at the highest point of my hike and wondered if those polar explorers appreciated the same beauty provided by the rawness of nature.  Perhaps, or maybe it was just another hurdle in the way to achieve their goals.

Snow Crescent

Sunset on Snow and Crust

Track Stories

I probably post something similar to this every winter, but it's something I just need to do.  I enjoy tracks.  I like the stories they can tell or the stories I try to interpret and think about.  They stop me in my.....ahhh, tracks.  They make me consider the when and why and it's okay if I never figure it all out-that's part of wonder Iguess.

White Footed Mouse tracks

These Wild Turkey tracks I happened to cut several times during my snowshoe.  The first time was out on a crusty and windblown field, where they could barely break the surface, then later in the woods wandering around in search of food.  I saw them several more times and finally they wandered into the yard checking for bird feeder leftovers.

Wild Turkey track in snow

Tubbs Snowshoe Tracks  on Cliffs field

Lastly, I stopped and checked out my own tracks.  The 24" snowshoes struggle in the 2' of snow here...or maybe it's just me.  I did get a workout, breathed fresh cold air and enjoyed the quiet.

Nat Geo Photography links

I ran across some great photos this morning-published on National Geographic's site featuring the daily dozen from readers.  I mentioned to my class yesterday that if they don't like making pictures and looking at pictures, they should take a different class.  This site is a good start.
Nat Geo-your-shot/daily-dozen

(from the daily-dozen site)

Of course, one link leads to another and I did some surfing on other pages in the NatGeo photography pages.

NAT Geo Photogtaphy

(from the Adventure and Exploration page)

2010 Favs

In Laura Schmitt's latest blog post (http://lschmittphoto.blogspot.com/) I was reminded that maybe I should go back over the past year and take a second look at photographs I've made.  Some "get better" while others just.....don't....with age.  While scrolling though thousands of images I was struck not only by what I was seeing visually, but also what I was feeling as the past year scrolled by with a turn and click of the mouse.   I'd select this picture and that one and ......well, the another one just won't make the cut, even though I really like it.  There is always something in the back of my head that says "people are going to see these...and know they are supposed to be your best work!"  I found some are, and some are....for me.

I'll start with this image of Queen Annes Lace and Ruger.  When I wrote earlier of this photograph, I think I mentioned Ruger always getting involved with all the pictures I was trying to make-this one, of course, included.  It ended up being one of my favorites.  The old tracks, the new tracks, the quietness of the picture.  It does have some noise, but who cares.  I know in time, this image will be even more important, as we live through Ruger's illness, but this will always remind me of the happiness he has given us.

 

The first day of school-Not sure why this morning I had my camera in hand wandering the halls, but the excitement of the day was there and I just had to shoot a few images.  Of course, I know all these kids and their little personalities and wonder how much they will change as I watch them move through the grades.

The Snak Shak. Tucked away on a remote corner of Washington Island, this tiny snack stand just said so much of what it's like to live with simple pleasures.  The color, the gulls, hand painted signs and the friendliness of the woman here were things I just connected to.

Gnome fest Night Ride.  Our trail system has been lucky enough to host Gnomefest for the past couple years-a gathering of mountain bikers for a weekend of fun and festivities.  A great time and wonderful people.  While making the rounds visiting campsites on the first night, I noticed some riders returning from a night ride on singletrack-I swung my camera and was lucky enough to get this image-one I really liked a lot and says something about why I like to ride.

Ruger makes another cut and returns in this photo.  To be honest, it's one of the few photographs with Ruger in it, where it wasn't about him.  I just loved the light color and texture of the wheat field and how he just fit perfectly in the scene.

Shooting weddings is not my calling, but I've done a few and for people I know, they can be fun and entertaining...and pressure packed.  Some photographers live for that, I really don't.  I selected these two just because I think they really capture the personalities of all four people,and they were not a "say cheese" moment, but rather much more relaxed (the wedding ceremony is over-whew!) and candid.