Fairyland

Every brief and fragile crystal is a glittering jewel in its own right, transient but perfect. Blue shadows lie across the snow. And the meaning of that snow: life for the thirsty grass. Life for the animals that feed on the grass. Life for us who live here.
- Edward Abbey

I emerged from the house into the still dark morning to find the world transformed into a magical frost covered landscape. It was still dark, lit only by the street lights, but brighter from the white all around. Despite it being really too dark for photography (at least without a tripod) I only made it the half block to the end of the alley before feeling compelled to pull out my camera.



I love my morning walk to work. The lower path along the river was a tunnel through the frost covered trees. The frost was sparkling like diamonds. This is my kind of "Christmas tree". Not some indoor plastic thing covered with colored baubles. (Apologies to those of you who love your decorated trees, it's just not my thing.)



I continued to take photos as I walked to work although I really wasn't too sure any of them would turn out. My everyday carry RX100 is a great camera, but for this I would have had a better chance if I'd had my DSLR. As I expected, many of the photos were useless but surprisingly, some of them turned out not too bad. (As long as you don't look too close!) Even if none of them had turned out, it was still worth it since the camera makes me look closer at the amazing world around me.



I took the two shots forming this panorama separately without thinking about joining them, but when I saw them on the computer I immediately thought to combine them. The ice on the river was moving enough to be a bit blurred with the long exposure. (1/3 sec handheld!)



Even after arriving at work I had to take a few more shots out the window of my office.



Walking between buildings at lunch the sun was glinting off the frost and I itched to be out taking more photos, but I had work to do.

By the time I walked home it was dark again and my camera stayed in my pack. At least the days are getting longer again :-)

For more of these photos see all 8 photos as a slideshow or overview

Best wishes to everyone for the holidays!