Day: December 15, 2016

The wind chill is 13 degrees, it’s going well below zero tonight. On nights like this I wish we could let all of the animals into the house. But I’m glad the barn cats made it inside. They’ll be in the house for a day or so. Saturday will be easier. This kind of cold is grinding, we give the pony, sheep and donkeys second cut hay, it’s richer and offers more energy.

Outside, Flo and Minnie squabble all the time, on cold nights like this, they snuggle together.

Our two wood stoves are heroic, keeping the house temperate around 66. Tonight, we’re going to the Christmas party at the Mansion, Red and Maria are coming. More photos later.

It is 5 degrees here right now, and arctic winds are sweeping in, it will feel much colder tonight. I do feel for the animals in this kind of cold. Fate is impervious to the cold, she just doesn’t seem to notice it. In cold too biting for me to keep my face exposed, she ran through her meadow and stood in the snow. I think this is a dog that could survive in the wild easily. She helped me capture the feeling of the cold this morning. I’ll keep at it.

For me, some major photographic decisions, I’ve been on the phone with Apple all morning, and they were extraordinarily helpful as usual. I’m scrapping my Aperture Photo Storage and Enhancement program, since Apple is no longer providing support for it. It is the only photo program I have ever used. I am experimenting with two other programs – the Photos program that is on the Macintosh now and that Apple is supporting, and also with Adobe Lightroom, a favorite among professional photographers.

I purchased a special plug-in called Affinity, which will work with Photos in Apple, and I am pretty dazzled by it. I might scrap the Lightroom program I got this morning. My first experiment was with a portrait I took of some hay bales in the barn, the bales have so much character and individuality to me, and I switched them to black and white monochrome. I like the detail and the feel.

So I have some experimenting to do, I have a lot to get used to, but it’s time for a change. Makes me nervous, but also excited. Change is the essence of creativity. I don’t do a light of photo enhancement, usually I’ll brighten a picture or darken it. Can’t wait to see if this changes my photography. Today my challenged is to capture the bitter cold and wind her now.