The Un-Winter

f/8, 20 sec, at 17mm, 400 ISO, on a Canon EOS 60D

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The end of last week had my stress levels a bit tested, as what I thought was a pretty good image back up system was tested, and partially failed. The second Western Digital My Passport external hard drive out of the 6 that I’ve owned failed…out of nowhere. It was no big worry to me as I was sure that only a couple of sets of images were in question, until I restored my Vault and realized that ALL images from the end of November until last week were gone. Eliminated. History. The only images I could save were those I uploaded to Smugmug – Christmas, San Diego, my outings with my brother – all gone.

I thought I had backed up my library often enough, but I was obviously incorrect. So let this example be a good lesson to you – backup, backup and backup. From now on, any images loaded on my Mac will now IMMEDIATELY be backed up to the Vault. there’s no sense in playing around with it – just do it – I suggest you do the same!

Needless to say, I needed something to turn my attitude around and make me forget about my mistake. Thank you Un-Winter! What is the Un-Winter? Well, it was the four days last week that saw above freezing temperatures, rain, mist and on Friday, the finale, fog! That’s right, January fog! It was an awesome break in the weather and much to my liking being obsessed with long exposures and black and whites. It was exactly what I needed!

I had a shot in mind Friday when I headed out, but the Lake Elmo Park Reserve, where the shot in my head was located, was not open, so an alternative presented itself in Sun Fish Lake Park just down the road. Hadn’t shot there in a while and didn’t really even see the park – all the pics I took were along the drive exiting the park, including today’s image. As you start to leave the park, the road is flanked by a hill on the right, which turns into private farm land, marked by this fence line, which I love…a lot! The fog and overcast clouds were so heavy that it was hard to tell where the snow and fog stopped and started!

Lesson learned and heart recovered! Unfortunately, the weather turned most certainly back to the winter over the weekend, with highs around 10 and winds blowing 10-15, but the slight break for the Un-Winter was just enough!

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• Aperture: ƒ/8
• Camera: Canon EOS 60D
• Focal length: 17mm
• ISO: 400
• Shutter speed: 20s