Sharon's Week 7: Beware the Black Screen of Death!

Contrasts

Please send healing thoughts to my trusty sidekick, Hermione.  She has been sent to the camera hospital again, this time for displaying the black screen of death.  Yesterday I was out to shoot with a friend and since it was so cold (and my friend is not a fan of cold), we decided to go for a drive to find the snowy owl on Leigh's Bay Road that everyone and their dog has seen except the two of us.  We pulled over, got our camera settings ready and drove, without success, around the area in which this owl is known to reside.  Eventually, Ali conceded to a brief visit at Whitefish Island so we headed back into town.  When we got out of the car and I went to redo my camera settings, there was the death message...something to do with firmware.  The camera was off.  I turned it on.  Still, the death screen.  I went to the camera store and stumped them.  After trying several things, trying unsuccessfully to get into the menu to do a factory re-set, we decided that Hermione needed specialist attention. She has been sent off and I had to plead with Carlos to take a break from his retirement.

On the topic of contrasts, both Hermione and Carlos are Canon products but the contrasts between the operation of all the controls is unbelievable.  I would think that at least they could keep the power control on the same side of the camera body.  This afternoon I spent a little time with the chickadees and it took me forever each time I wanted to adjust my settings.  And, I kept turning on live-view when I wanted to review a photo.

In looking for pictures about contrast I did have specific ideas and planned a couple of shots but most of these are photos I took in the course of regular life and interpreted with contrast in mind.

To begin with, on Family Day, Levi and I took a drive to Whitefish Point to see if the ice caves had formed.  They have, but it was crazy cold and Levi wimped out fairly quickly.  We then drove the long way back and stopped at Tahquamenon Falls.  Here are some photos from that day in which I see some contrasts:

The wind has resulted in so many interesting creations in the snow.  In this shot, I liked the contrast between the snow and sand (Whitefish Point is sand dunes in the summer) and the contrast between the smooth wind-blown surface and the jagged edges.  I shot this horizontally but Blogger rotated it so you can rotate your head to see what I saw.

When we arrived at Whitefish Point, the sky was blue so I put on my polarizing filter to boost the blue a bit for this contrast between the sky and the red and white of the Shipwreck Museum and lighthouse.

Out on the ice, I marveled at the amazing structures that the water, wind and cold can create.  This photo contrasts man-made and nature-made structures.

The Upper Falls at Tahquamenon Falls are still moving (the locals informed us that the Lower Falls were frozen over so we ignored them).  This photo highlights the contrast between moving and frozen water.

When we pulled into the parking lot, it struck me that there were so many birch leaves still on the trees.  I looked for shots that would show the contrast between winter and fall, and the irony of them occurring together.

Friday morning was cold (an understatement...minus 31 without the wind chill) and I knew there would be a huge fog on the river downtown but I couldn't make myself go outside until a few hours later.  There was a lot less fog but I had fun with it anyway.  This highlights the contrast between the cold air and "warm" water.

This next photo isn't one of my contrast shots, I just wanted to show you how beautiful the frosty morning was.

This morning, I was struck by the contrast between the colourful jackets my bunnyrabbits were wearing and the pristine white snow.  You might also say this shows the contrast between those bunnies who got a good night's sleep and those who did not, thus being silly and repeatedly falling and giggling.

This tree at the locks with the sun behind it struck me as contrast-y.  I shot it with a small aperture to get the sun to spike so there'd be a contrast between the infinitely different shapes of branches and the sharp spikes of the sun.

Happy weekend everyone.