Two Pretties, Wildlife in Snow, and Macro Studies

Our weather today qualified as pretty in two ways. The first “pretty” was that it was pretty cruddy. Wind, snow, wind, rain, ice, and wind - all made for a pretty cruddy day. Still, if you were able to get out and look around, our ordinary landscape did look pretty (the second “pretty”).

Following is a sampling of pictures from my drive in the pretty cruddy conditions.

Even with miserable weather conditions I did see some wildlife. Most interesting were the American white pelicans huddled like a covey of partridge in the dead of winter. I had not seen this behavior in pelicans before. I also spotted blue-winged teal that seemed to be completely ignoring the weather.

For a part of the day I spent some time experimenting with macro images of Easter cactus blossoms and an orchid blossom. When I say I experimented, “experimenting” is defined as using various tools to focus life-size or larger than life and creative lighting techniques. Following are a few of the photos. Some are standard images, some have been artistically manipulated.