External tera-station hard drive failure. Currently in freezer, will try to rescue data tomorrow.
Will. Not. Panic.
Hard drive contains ALL THE THINGS.
WILL. NOT. PANIC
This is Bug the Cat.
Sometimes he likes to show me that he is just a “Cool Cat.â€
I’ve been sick for the past week and haven’t even felt like working on photos. But I’m finally on the mend and just finished working on my photos from snowshoeing at Chena Lakes with my friend Susan nearly two weeks ago.
On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon in just above zero temps that were unseasonably warm for mid-February, I headed out to Chena Lakes to go snowshoeing with my friend Susan. She takes the most beautiful photos and always has her camera with her so I knew we would be able to stop and shoot quite a bit. We took a different trail than I had done before and for the most part I could have done without my poles, but I was glad to have them for the couple times I decided to go into deeper snow off the trail. The entire time we were on the trail we saw moose droppings that were very recent, but we never caught sight of the moose. Based on the droppings we were pretty sure there were at least two, most likely a mom and a baby.
It was great to get outside in the fresh air, even if it was cold.
Sony a6000 with either a 70-210mm or a 6-50mm
Aperture priority
Most of my photos have minor post-processing editing done to alter contrast and tint, but I just figured out how to use the “clone / heal†tool in Lightroom in order to pull out specks from photos due, most likely, to changing lenses in the field. In past I’ve thrown out so many good photos since there were specks or what look like fine hairs on the photos, but I was able to save the beautiful one with all the blue sky and clouds since I decided to figure out how to make that tool work. I still prefer to keep my images looking as natural as possible, which includes keeping power lines in when I accidentally capture them in my aurora shots, but this new skill will help me clean up messes I add to the pictures.
Sunburst. Neat effect Susan taught me.
Sign says “Venice Beach” Let’s go to the beach?
Everything in Alaska is hardy, even the moss refuses to die in winter!
Pretty birch trees surround the trail.
Birch trees.
Such blue skies.
Paper birch bark.
Nearly done! My friend Susan takes a rest…..
Stunning sky and wispy clouds. Photo saved by the heal tool!
Snow on shoes!
Trailhead in shadows….
I just finished reading Stephen King’s novel “11/23/63” on my tablet It was long, potentially the longest book I’ve read in a very, very long time and the first full book I’ve read on my tablet. I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11/22/63
Day two, elliptical. Â Barely lasted 5 min. Whew.
Four months until the Denali trip, need to get my legs and knees in shape for all the hiking I want to do there and all summer.
After a mere five minutes on the elliptical I bought for myself yesterday, I’m recalling why I have not been on this kind of tortuous device since the early 90s.
This is Bug the cat.
Bug is short for Lovebug and most days he is more BUG than LOVE, but there are times like this that he really lives up to his name.
Lovebug
On Sunday afternoon I headed out to Chena Lakes to do some shoe showing with my friend Sarah. I nearly canceled since it was -10F earlier in the morning, but by the time we got out there it was just above zero and lingered at about 5F.
We had a good time on the trail that was just under two miles and it was not until we got back to the cars that I realized that for the first time in my life I had locked my keys in the car.
Fortunately we had met out at Chena Lakes in separate cars so with her driving us, we first got something to eat at a nice little diner in North Pole called Little Richard’s Family Diner. Then she drove me back home to get my spare key and drove me back out to Chena Lakes to get my car.
It was a beautiful day and it felt really good to get outside and get some exercise.
Sony a6000 with a 70-210 lens
Chena Nature Trail – trailhead sign
Sarah sporting some awesome bright snowpants!
Pretty trails
More trail prettiness
Playing in the snow!
Last night there was a G1 with minor geomagnetic storming that started really early in the evening and was even seen at dusk around 6:30, so I waited and watched the aurora cam provided by R&M Photography (Ronn & Marketa Murray) until it looked like it was high enough in the sky and bright enough for it to be visible over my yard and that’s when got a few photos. Nothing spectacular, but it was nice to see the lights even with all the light pollution surrounding me.
I’ve been busy with a work-related project and then when I was free I have not really felt much like heading out to chase so I’ve missed a couple of good aurora nights lately. I have been enjoying photos from my fellow chasers and I’ve been prepping for more effective chasing; I bought a battery grip and a camera cover to help with camera coldness after the last time froze my batteries so badly, but I’m just not feeling that urge to go out and that’s okay for me right now.
These photos were edited with Lightroom for temp, tint, exposure and contrast since the originals made it look like daytime. Someday I’ll figure out the right settings, someday….
Sony a6000 with Rokinon 12mm
Aperture priority, ISO 800
