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Cloudy with a chance of tornados

Posted on March 11, 2010

Tonight was the first storm of the season, a late night filled with rolling thunder, dazzling lightning and, much to my dismay, tornado watches. I hate tornados, but oh, how I love photographing storm clouds.

I grew up on the East Coast and am more comfortable with hurricanes. Sure they pack a fury, but you know they’re coming. I like this about hurricanes. Tornados are unpredictable; this scares me.

This photo was taken in a field across from my parents’ house during my first spring in West Tennessee. It shows the beauty of a thunderhead and pretty awesome rays of sun behind it, but masks the power a storm can bring, the power to take away life.

Thankfully, tonight’s storm did not result in any tornadic activity. Here’s to hoping for a quiet, safe spring.

Snow.

Posted on February 11, 2010

Winters in West Tennessee do not usually involve much of the frosty white stuff.

In 2009, we were bombarded with a foot of snow and felt like we’d never see another snow so great as long as we’d live here. Boy, we were wrong. While we haven’t seen 10-12 inches at a time as we did last March, we have had three snows already with another predicted for Sunday.

At this point, we’re tired of it.

My children were out of school for a day in early January, two days last week and four this week. They are set to return to school in the morning – finally – only to have Monday off for President’s Day. The days off, being off of our usual schedule, is annoying. It’s uncomfortable, it’s unfamiliar. As much as I hate schedules, as much as I detest routine, I’m eager for the familiarity of the everyday to return.

Snow fell on Monday morning and is still blanketing many of the fields.

Snowy fields, snowy barns are beautiful. It’s fun to go sledding for awhile. It’s entertaining to build a snowman and take the requisite photos of the children in the snow. But after that, I’m just ready for it to melt.

I’m ready for school to be in session, for the flowers to bloom. I’m tired of wearing a coat and eagerly awaiting warmer temperatures.

My only problem is Mother Nature. Apparently she’s not getting the message.

Photo of the Week – God's Handiwork

Posted on January 31, 2010

I’ve decided to implement a Photo of the Week feature to highlight some of the images my readers have captured.

Our inaugural photo comes from my good friend Christa who, after playing more with her settings Saturday, took this wonderful photo of icicles dangling elegantly from an evergreen. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words and this one speaks of the beauty of unexpected snow days and the wonder of God’s creation.

Christa did a great job capturing the tones of the sunset, its reflection on the sparkly, icy snow and the ice on the evergreen in the bottom right corner. Art should have movement and this photo does; the snow looks as if it was poured onto the boughs and it is almost as if we’re watching as it slowly melts, forming the icicles. These evergreen boughs are not sturdy, they do not hold weight well, and yet they are able to hold the mixture of snow and ice without breaking.

Her focus is sharp, too, which is important when photographing icicles.

I read Christa’s blog entry, The Handiwork of God, just after she shot this and I know she was very pleased with herself. And she should be, because this photo is beautiful.

Here in the South, snow closes the roads, schools, businesses and churches. After having been cooped up in the house with her family all day, she stole a few minutes for a walk in the snow with her camera.

“When I shot it I was standing in at least 6 inches of snow wearing my husband’s clothes and shoes,” she says. “I was feeling particularly artsy and wanting to capture things the way I was seeing them.”

This shows it doesn’t take expensive equipment to capture great photos, either. Christa shot this with a point-and-shoot camera, not a dSLR.

“My camera is a Canon PowerShot, SD1200IS to be exact. I was playing around with the settings; I changed my exposure to -1.5 it also has this setting where you can change it to macro for up close so I changed it to that,” she said. “It was set on ISO 1600, too.”

For Christa, the photo is not just another memory from an ice and snow storm.

“This photo to me, is proof of not only God’s existence, but also His creativity,” says Christa. “I mean, I know that lots of places have snow all the time, but for this Cali girl, it is soooo beautiful.”

If you would like to submit a photo you’ve taken for the Photo of the Week feature, or nominate a photo you’ve seen, email me at edayphotographyATgmail.com.