First Post and Flakes

This blog is to be about anything I like.  Following that logic, there will probably be a lot of pictures and food discussions.

The food will be good -- by my standards anyway.  But if you're the type to pay $42 dollars for some parsley and a dead snail--and then walk around telling people how you were tweeting that it was the most wonderful thing EVER--well, you may be disappointed.

More bad news folks, the pictures here will likely include some bad ones.  That's how I learn.  Perhaps, if anyone ever reads this, you can learn from my mistakes. 

Let's get started.  Here's a picture taken a few days ago during a recent snow-storm.  This storm was unusual enough to make me get my camera because the snow was coming down in actual snowflakes.  Snowflakes were the norm when I was a kid growing up out West, but I've gradually become accustomed to local snow, which is usually in the form of ugly little pellets or big shapeless wet blobs.  Not so the other night.  It was the real deal.

So, I grabbed the 'ol clicker and went out to my balcony to try my hand at snowflake photography.  I did this fully aware that I didn't have the right equipment, the right background, or the right lighting, but I thought I'd try anyway.  Here's the best of a bad lot:

Pretty crappy I know, especially when compared to the work of someone who has perfected the art of snowflake photography -- like this guy over at snowcrystals.com.  Then again, he's invented and spent the money for a pretty sweet snowflake photography rig.  Well played sir...well played.

What did we learn from this?  (This is the payoff if you've actually read this)

1.  Snowflake photography is macro photography, and requires all the special equipment and techniques thereunto pertaining
2.  My technique of spreading out a black cloth and hoping for the world's best snowflake to  fall on it right where my camera happened to be focused was pure foolishness.  Better to read the techniques described at the link I gave above.
3.  I was fairly pleased with my LED ring-light, which gave me the best illumination out of all of the options I had available.  Pretty cool.

4.  Most importantly, I think a bad night of standing outside in a calm and peaceful snow flurry, feeling the cool air, and enjoying the absolute unique and beautiful artwork created by our world one crystal at a time, is far better than a good night of sitting on the sofa watching N&tflix.  It was time well spent, even if I didn't get any good shots.

RBP Nature Photography