Freed.

Lately I have been in a rut. Almost more than any other season, I love winter. I love the calm serene feeling I get during a snowstorm, the beautiful blanket of white that can hide almost anything, the quiet, the solitude we see in our area this time of year, and the magic of how the world around me can look completely different from one minute to the next. This winter however, I have become completely reclusive. I am not much of an outgoing person unless I have my camera to hide behind, but even that didn't bring me out a great deal. Last week I had a gentle warm reminder that winter (a season so near and dear to me) is almost over and I have done so little to enjoy it. No snowshoeing, no sledding, no little adventures, nothing. This rut has been not only creative, but also internal and personal. Today a dear friend stole my daughter away for an overnight visit with her daughter now that all of us are finally over all the colds we were sharing. After sitting around trying to figure out what I would do with all this time to myself (my husband worked some OT and is currently down at the CHAD Battle of the Badges hockey game with his father), I grabbed my bag and a Twix egg (why did they not think of those sooner? They are FANTASTIC) and ran out the door. I have a lot of trouble leaving my house unless it involves caffeine so I stopped real quick for a coffee and headed to one of my favorite portrait locations to see if I could dig up some inspiration. As soon as I arrived I was a little discouraged by the never ending layer of ice that covered the entire area. I was able to safely grab a few shots that I liked enough, but decided it just wasn't worth risking the safety of me or my gear and headed home. Feeling a little down still I warmed up for a minute and polished off the rest of the Twix eggs (which, I am paying for dearly now...... I had three left and they are not a light snack). Determined to get over myself, I headed out the back door and down to the brook. Craziness happened and the last photo I snapped has to be one of my absolute favorite nature shots I have ever taken. EVER. Feeling so much better..... The following are the shots back at home taken with a variety of lenses (50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.4, and lensbaby composer pro with edge 80 optic). These two here were done with the lensbaby..... tricky at first, but here and there I am getting it. The one on the left is my absolute favorite from today (and from the past several years...). I don't put much work on my walls, unless they are portraits of Emma or Aaron, but this is going up (and it will be the first canvas I order for myself, ever). I was worried since these were handheld shots at crazy low shutter speeds (as far as handheld shots go anyway....), but I squeezed that camera to my face so hard I'm pretty sure I have a rectangular imprint in my face.