Monthly Archives: December 2015

Holiday Party

Photograph taken on Friday, December 11, 2015 by Henry
KC, Jane, and Brice

KC, Jane, and Brice

This is the fourth year in a row that I’ve posted a picture from my company holiday party. The previous posts were on December 07, 2012 , December 19, 2013 , and December 12, 2014. This year, I took fewer pictures because I was a little distracted. On the way to the party, the brakes in my van stopped working. I was approaching a traffic light and it turned red. I put on the brakes and nothing happened. The car barely slowed down. I tried pumping them and the pedal went to the floor. Fortunately no one had started through the intersection and I went through without incident but I had to use the parking brake to slow down the rest of the way to the party. I had the van towed from there and got a ride back from the party. Anyway, enough about that. The party itself was nice and it’s always good to be with these folks and not be talking about work.

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Sun Through The Fog

Photograph taken on Thursday, December 10, 2015 by Henry
Sun Through The Fog

Sun Through The Fog

This morning, as I was leaving for work (and running about 15 minutes late), I enjoyed the sight of the sun, streaming through a light fog that was just about to finish burning off. I had noticed the fog earlier but it was so thin, I didn’t think much of it in terms of photography. But the light in the fog out our front door was nice, so I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. Here you are.

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Boiling Eggs

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 09, 2015 by Henry
Boiling Eggs

Boiling Eggs

I happened to be hard boiling a few eggs this evening and as I watched the water boil I realized how cool it looks (cool in a hot sort of way). The rolling bubbles, bursting, sending spouts of water up into the air, was just beautiful. But it all happens very fast. So, I pulled out my camera and took some flash pictures, easily freezing the boiling water. I think there’s more to be done here, but this is a reasonable first attempt.

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Another Sunset From My Office

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 08, 2015 by Henry
Another Sunset From My Office

Another Sunset From My Office

Once again I had meant to go out during the day and take some pictures but once again I got busy and by the time I thought to go out, the light was failing. Actually, the sun was setting. Fortunately, there was a little color in the sky and by looking at an angle out my window I was able to see some clouds, lit by the setting sun.

It isn’t a particularly spectacular sunset, but it’s a sunset and better than nothing.

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Self-Portrait

Photograph taken on Monday, December 07, 2015 by Henry
Self-Portrait

Self-Portrait

I’m not a big fan of the selfie and I don’t even particularly like having my picture taken. I know that’s a bit funny coming from someone who is often trying to get others to smile for me, but it’s the truth. I would much rather look at pictures of other people than of myself. I suppose that’s a fairly common attitude.

This evening, though, I set the camera up on a china cabinet and set the self-timer, focused as best I could, and took a few pictures. This is the best, in terms of my expression, etc., although it’s not perfectly sharp. Still, not a terrible portrait. And as much as I don’t like looking at myself, I guess I should be thankful that I don’t have to very often. Sorry, for all of you who have a harder time avoiding it.

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Rena

Photograph taken on Sunday, December 06, 2015 by Henry
Rena

Rena

Taking pictures of kids can be fun but it can also present some very unique challenges. One of the biggest issues with kids is that, even if they want to be photographed, they often don’t know how to smile naturally. That’s sometimes true for adults, as well, of course, but not as common. With kids, even if they have the most beautiful smile in the world, if you ask them to smile, you get a very forced, very unnatural, toothy grin.

What’s really nice, though, is when you are able to catch an real, natural smile on one of these little ones. This picture is a great example. Rena’s “smile please” isn’t terrible, but it’s still a little less natural than her “real” smile. This is her real smile. It may not be her biggest, happiest smile, but it’s genuine and delightful.

And beautiful.

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Cathy

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 05, 2015 by Henry
Cathy, Hawlings River

Cathy, Hawlings River

We had a beautiful day today and Cathy and I took advantage of it. After a chilly morning, with significant frost, it warmed up to almost 50°F and in the sun it felt more than that. We went to a local nature preserve and walked through the woods and down to the Hawlings River. Not exactly the might Yukon or Amazon, but it’s a pretty little river and quite cheering on an early winter’s day. Here’s a picture of Cathy, enjoying the view and the sound of running water.

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Frosty Oak Leaf

Photograph taken on Friday, December 04, 2015 by Henry
Frosty Oak Leaf

Frosty Oak Leaf

It was a chilly morning today, feeling like early December, and although there was frost on the ground, I hesitated to go out to photograph it. I was too comfortable indoors. As I was taking things out to the car, though, preparing to go to work, I figured I was already out, so I might as well get down on the ground and take a few. This is a portion of a red oak leaf, rimed with tiny ice crystals, which I found quite pretty.

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Sunset From My Office

Photograph taken on Thursday, December 03, 2015 by Henry
Sunset From My Office

Sunset From My Office

Now that the sun is going down before I leave work, it’s sort of tough to get good sunset pictures. My office looks northwest, so today, as the sun was going down, I did get a view, if I looked to the left out the window, of a little color on the clouds. It’s not much of a sunset, I admit, but I’ll take what I can get.

We had a few quite dreary days of rain and it finally cleared up today, so that was nice.

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Foggy Morning

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 02, 2015 by Henry
Foggy Morning

Foggy Morning

It was quite foggy this morning as I drove to work. There were a few times on the way in where I would have liked to take a few pictures but there was nowhere convenient to stop the car, so I kept going. When I got to work, though, I walked around a bit and took some pictures of the trees in the fog, which was starting to lift. This photo was taken looking across the road behind my office with a nearby tree backed up by woods in the fog in the distance.

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Montecristo

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 01, 2015 by Henry
Montecristo

Montecristo

I like neon signs. I’m not sure what it is about them. Perhaps it’s the intense colors in the dark. Perhaps it’s the flowing lines of the glass tubing. In any case, whether or not I know why I like them, I do.

This evening I was in a parking lot and took pictures of a few neon signs. One simply said, “open” but I thought this one was nicer. I particularly like the “font” used, especially in the letter M. Montecristo, in this case, refers to the cigar company.

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