I had my blind set up for a few hours close to the bird feeders. I managed to get a few fairly good shots of birds and a squirrel and nearly froze my butt off. The blind was very cozy as long as the sun was shining. Once it disappeard behind the clouds I discovered that I was not dressed warmly enough. It was an interesting endeavour in any case. I am trying desparately to get inspired to draw again....Where did my creative muse go???? Where????

I've had another expedition through the woods and along the creek. We seem to be lacking sunshine this winter so when it does come around in the mornings especially it is cause for celebratory photo shoots. These are my two favorite shots. I loved the look of the creek but the light was not on it at all so the photo is a bit disappointing.

I did a few still life practices. This is my favorite. I'm not too adventurous with the manual settings but rather just trying to develop an eye for better composition. For the most part I turn to the auto settings. Baby steps first then I'll move on. If only I could remember to leave the white balance on the auto setting before I set out for outdoor shoots. I have learned to shoot in the RAW format so I can fix these kinds gaffs more easily at least. Oh well.

The sole says it all for this exercise. This was kind of fun. I was actually according to the book take pictures of people's soles for example people standing around with feet in different positions. I don't get around too many people so I turned to our own soles. Hmmm looks like I selected the same shot twice to upload...oh well. So it goes.

I have two new exercises that I have completed...rocks and signs. There is no shortage of either of these two subjects all around. These are my favorite shots. The rocks I chose to do in black and white so I could work out the contrast issue. The signs look better with color. I still have an exercise to do in town 'at night' but we never seem to go in at night so that one is pending. I am not sure if I am getting anywhere with this but the book that I have: "Photography the art of composition" is full of seemingly endless excercises to hone ones skills. I am enjoying the effort anyway!!!

Yesterday was another ice fishing day. Two great shots...one at dawn as we set up and one upon emerging from the tent with 7 fish to a gloriously beautiful day. AAAH!

Well I have reached the end of the course and now am expected to submit 6 photos: a landscape, city at night, a portrait, a fast action shot, an abstract, and anything converted to BW. I roamed around the area near the creek yesterday putting together an assortment of landscape shots. We've had a week of unseasonably warm weather and all the beautiful snow is gone. AND... Alas, I had the white balance set "WRONG" for most of them. Today I spent hours going through them and correcting the white balance using Pentax's utility program. It was very tedious but it did give me the chance to decide on what to delete for lack of good composition. I did not end up with very many keepable shots. These ones are my favorites of the keepers.

None are good enough to be sent in for grading. There is always tomorrow and the next day and the next day and...