Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Almost Spring

This week we had a sunny day.  It was still bitterly cold but at least it looked nice outside.

I decided to take some time and get around after spending too much time inside.

The first thing I did was went to a local park near a lake to see if I could find any birds.  It was my lucky day.  I got a picture of this great cardinal.


He was kind enough to stay just long enough for me to take his picture.  Red is my favourite colour.

I think traveled down a road not far from my house and took a picture of this abandoned farmstead.  A year from now it will be a Catholic school and will be surrounded by new houses.  But for now it is still the site of an abandoned farm.


Though this looks to be in the middle of the country, there are actually several new housing developments around this open area.  It is sad to see such valuable farm land taken up for houses and commercial property.

I then drove out into the country and came across this country church.  It is made out of wood and has been around for over a century.



There is a cemetery behind the church - just to the right of where I was standing when I took the above photograph.  I walked through it and noticed the grass is getting green. 

I was suprised since it was so cold that day.  In the area where the sun was not shining on the ground, the snow was still there.


As I walked I noticed these artifical flowers had fallen to the ground.  I could see the grass getting green but, at the same time, there was still snow.  The silk flowers were quite a contrast to the otherwise bleak ground.



I noticed something silver in the distance.  It looked like a silver candy cane.



It was a Christmas decoration.  It was a silver shepard's hook holding a large oranment.


I took a really close up picture of the silver.  It was so shiny in the sunlight.


Then I took a super close up picture of the ornament.


I like the way the background gets blurry when you do this.  I think the term photographers use is selective focus since the depth of field is, well, something.  I forget.  I don't know technical terms.  I just the like the way it looks.

It was good to get outside.  Even though it was still very cold, the grass getting green and the blue sky reminded me spring really is getting close.



2 comments:

Hilary said...

Interesting shots, Russell. I like the architecture out your way. The shallow depth of field shot makes the ornament look as if it's a fancy planet suspended in space. The background created by the shallow DOF is called bokeh.

A Lady's Life said...

The farm land does look very pretty in the snow like this and I too dislike such things being over run by houses and such.
Too bad people give up their land.
My husband laughs when I tell him about the odd small farm with cows, in the middle of a city.
They still exist and I never miss seeing one of them lol
Good ol stubborn farmers who refuse to leave.
Good for them!!!