Snow and Sun!

As promised, here is my last installment of my photos of this blizzard.  Like my first post in this series, my favorite photo is the last in the bunch, so make sure you scroll through all of the pictures before you click away!

Early sunrise is my absolute favorite time to capture photos--the golden light and dramatic shadows provide such a beautiful setting.  Combine that with the peaceful solitude and stillness that comes right after a snow storm, and I get to see a little slice of heaven.

So the dock is at the bottom of a giant hill from our house, which means everything down there was sheltered from the wind.  This allowed some of the late snow to stick to everything and allowed me to get shots like this!

So this photo and the next are almost the same.....except for the subject.  In this one, the subject is the fallen tree, with its scraggly, crooked branches.  In the next, the subject is the dock with its strong, straight lines (plus the shadows).  This makes the photos very different to me.  Which do you like better?  The crazy, crooked lines of the tree?.......or........

........the solid, straight, lines of the dock? This is where I should put in a personality quiz that reveals what your choice says about you.  I will let you read what you want into your choice at your own leisure ;)

Ahh...my favorite type of composition (although not my favorite photo of the bunch--that's next!).  A shallow depth of field with a nice blurred background.  I also loved the symmetry provided with these two branches.  Then being able to put the rising sun in between them was icing on the cake.

Finally the last, and my personal fave.  This photo has the same concept as the previous one--shallow depth of field with a nice blurred background.  I was also able to use a new tool in Lightroom (at least new to me) to really bring out the gold of the sun and the green of the leaves in the foreground.  With those adjustments, I feel as though I was able to add a touch of magic (cue the Disney shimmer and sparkle!).

Here ends my 3 part installment of my view of the blizzard.  Which ones were your favorite? Do you agree with mine?  Or do you prefer one of the others?  Please tell me--I'm dying to know! 

Thanks for reading!  Come back for some more beautiful photography in the next post!

Cheers :)

More Snow!

The snow stopped!  The sun came out!  which means I was able to go out and capture even more photos of this fantastic phenomenon to share with you :)  The photos shared in this post are from Saturday afternoon-- yep during all that crazy wind.  Some were inside.  You know, the kind of inside shots that remind you how much cozier you are when you see snow from the heated side of a window.  And then I put on my snow gear, grabbed my camera and my trash bag, and dove into the elements.

(Okay, maybe "the elements" is a little extreme, but I HATE cold, and windy cold is even worse!)

The final photos (the ones I was able to capture with the sunrise and beautiful golden light) will be shared in a post tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Okay first the inside, cozy ones.

This is the bedroom I have been staying in at my parent's house during the blizzard.  I had fun staying nice and warm taking photos of the room with its wide view of the snow.

Mirror reflection--always fun to try shots like this. Tip: if you want to try and get your own mirror shots--clean the mirror first!  It will help get rid of potential distractions from the reflection you are trying to capture.

See what I mean by wide view of the snow?  Lots of sun comes into this room during they day, which makes it beautifully lit with natural light.

Okay.  Now for the outside shots.  Oh the wind....*shudder*

I spent my time photographing on Friday, looking at every holly bush to see if it had any red berries on it.  No luck.  But as I was helping my dad shovel snow, I saw these berries in front of the house!  They are not from a holly bush, but I still love "red berries with snow" pictures. The red adds a beautiful pop of color!

Icicles.  It's surprisingly hard to get a decent shot of them without the ugly dirt and yuckiness of the object they are growing off of.  This was as close as I could get (used my zoom lens) while photographing them from the other side of them.

Every tree had this white stripe down the center of it--thanks to the ferocious winds. Brrr....

Here is a preview of what is to come tomorrow!  The sun finally made an appearance!

Thank you for joining me in this awesome experience of a blizzard through my photographer's eyes.  Please continue to stay safe as we venture back out of our homes onto the roads.

See you tomorrow for my final installment of photos from the Blizzard of 2016!

Cheers :)

Snow Blizzard of 2016!

Snow!  It has come in one of the weirdest winters I have seen in a while (70 degree temps in December and a full-fledged blizzard in January!  What?!?).

Well snow pictures were promised, and snow pictures are delivered :)

This was my first time taking photos while it was snowing--truly.  My usual strategy for snow pics is to wait until it is done snowing, that way I have some sunlight to work with and I don't have to worry about keeping my camera dry.  However, the high winds that are scheduled for today and tomorrow seemed worse conditions for my camera than a calm snow.  This meant that I had to find a way of keeping my camera dry amidst heavy snowfall.  How?  I took a trash bag, poked a hole in the bottom, and wrapped it around my lens, so the rest of the bag covered the body of the camera.  I also used a rubber band to keep the bag in place (although it fell off a couple of times as the snow that was collected made it slippery--eek!).  I'm sure I didn't look very "professional" when I was taking photos (I would duck my head underneath to see and work the controls through the bag with my fingers-cut-off gloves), but I think the results make up for my own silly-looking appearance :)  Be sure to make it all the way down for my favorite of the bunch!

Of course I had to get the typical "snow on evergreen branch" shot.  It never gets old.

I wandered into an empty lot across the road, and found this rusted old......thing.  Yeah, I really don't know what it is, but I had a great time taking photos from all angles--including lying down in the snow :)

So there isn't much snow in this photo, but I chose to share it anyway.  These leaves were the only piece of nature around me that had any vibrant color to them.

This was taken in the back yard on my way to the dock.  I personally like how the shape of the subject is echoed (like a shadow) in the background along with the "sparkliness" of the falling snow.

The dock.  If you are wondering what that thing is part way up the dock, it is the canoe, turned upside down.  My favorite part is the branches hanging down from above.  I could have taken them out to have a clean sky, but I chose to keep them in.

I know that the full effect of this photo can never be fully appreciated in a blog setting, but I really like how this panorama turned out.  It's one of my favorites.  I hope that it can be printed somehow and given to my parents (whose dock this is) someday.

This one is my favorite of all I took yesterday--no competition.  This tree is alone and strong amidst the falling snow, and the branches from other trees frame it so nicely.  It was just perfect.  I also decided for this to be the one converted to B&W--I think it gives it a feeling of timelessness and stability (as is usual with B&W's).

Thanks for visiting.  I am always grateful :)  If you are also experiencing this blizzard, please be safe, stay warm, and enjoy the many beautiful views that can only be experienced with a blanket of snow.

Cheers :)

Family Christmas Portrait

Oh, hey there!  Ready for the snow?  According to many meteorologists and middle school children, it is coming!  I certainly plan (hope!) to be out and about capturing the pristine beauty with my camera.  Pictures will be coming--stay tuned!

In the meantime, I wanted to upload a few more photos.  These are from a family portrait session I had back in December (you know, when it was warm out).  This was my first ever full family portrait session.  Boy, was I nervous! Up to this point I had only done adults or one child at a time.  Now I had to direct a family unit, which included 2 small children, into beautiful poses, get them to smile without looking fake, and make sure all my camera settings were correct.  Did I mention I was nervous?

But I was also super-excited.  I was ready to take on the challenge.  The family I was photographing is from my church--Caitlyn and Danny Koennel with their 2 adorable daughters, Harper (1 year) and Addison (5 years).  They were completely wonderful!  Once we got started, my nerves vanished and I started having fun :) Here are a few of the many awesome shots from that day:

I absolutely love the outfits they came in--Caitlyn ended up using some of these photos for their family Christmas card--the red and white shirts with the evergreen trees in the background just screamed Christmas :)

Oh--these two girls were just cute!  As I was going through the photos after the shoot, I kept laughing out loud (LOL-ing, I guess) as I remembered Harper sticking her tongue out, and Addison roaring like a lion (yes I asked her to do that, no worries).  These two made my job very easy--their smiles made every photo of them a keeper.

I think this photo turned out to be my favorite photo--and moment--of the day (even with all the silliness).  For me, this is a perfect portrayal of the love that can grow only between father and daughter.  I feel so privileged to have been able to capture such a special moment.  (Shout out to my own father--Love you Dad!)

One last thing--I need to thank my church for letting me use their back yard to take these photos.  If you are not familiar with Good Samaritan Presbyterian Church in Waldorf, check it out at www.goodsampc.org.  It's a family full of great people!

Thanks again for taking some time to visit my blog.  Stay safe and warm out there!

Cheers :)
Megan.

Escher Inspiration

Escher Inspiration

As corny as this probably sounds....welcome to my blog!  Hi-my name is Megan Howell (duh-I guess that was pretty obvious!).  I bet you figured out that I am also a photographer.  cuz, you know, you're smart like that ;)

I decided to create this blog to share my photography with whoever is interested.  I get excited to photograph anything and everything!  Simply because my photographs are my memories.  They take me back to that time when.....

So, to start off, below is a photo that I recently took of my brother, Adam. Check it out:

Here's the story behind it:
Yesterday we went to the North Carolina Museum of Art to see an exhibit of artwork by MC Escher. You know, the guy who did drawings of the infinite staircase, the hands drawing each other, self portraits in spheres, and generally plays with our ability to perceive 3D in a 2D medium.  Yeah, that guy.  It was pretty cool to see his artwork--it's just so mesmerizing.

Okay--back on topic--the photo of my brother.  At the end of the exhibit there is the gift shop, and places for people to sit.  As we were deciding where to go next, I saw this wall with all of these lines on it.  And suddenly it clicked--all of the lines were converging to one point on the wall.  I only had my cell phone on me, but I had to try.  I turned to Adam and said "Adam, I need you."  Following this was an exciting 10 minutes of me directing my brother through where to stand, how to look, and trying to get him to jump (which he wouldn't do).  This was actually the final shot I took, and I was so excited (and yes, a little proud) with how bold the photo looked-especially in B&W.

If you made it this far down, thanks for reading!  See you in the next post :)