Arizona Blizzard

As you probably heard on the news, Flagstaff got pounded by a blizzard the past week. We received about 4 feet in Kachina Village. It's always challenging making good snow pictures - the camera's meter wants to make the white snow 18% grey, falling and blowing snow soak your gear, fingers go numb, and then when you bring the cold camera back into a warm house, moisture condenses on it. (Put your cold camera and lenses in a plastic bag outside before bringing them inside.)

Once you check your histogram and maybe "add more light" using the exposure compensation button to get the snow bright and white, then you may want to play with white balance. For example, setting the WB on tungsten will give your image a bluish cast making the scene look extra cold. Experiment and stay warm.

No Bluffin'

Ann and I just returned from a long weekend in Bluff. Much to our surprise (and delight), the San Juan River was frozen. Near the Mexican Hat Bridge, an ice dam had formed forcing the river under the dam and emerging under the bridge. Upstream at the BLM Mexican Hat put-in, the river was frozen all the way across. But to the shock of one of our friends, the ice was not as solid as it appeared, and she broke through almost up to her knees.

This was the weekend of the annual Bluff Balloon Festival and many of our favorite balloons were there. The weather was cold and dead still - perfect for hot air flying. The balloonists did not do their traditional mass-ascension in Valley of the Gods because of concern over ice and mud in the valley. Instead they flew an additional time over Bluff, which is always exciting.

Trying to capture images of the Balloon Glow is a challenge. This year I simply put my camera on a tripod, left the ISO setting on 200, and shot away when the balloonists turned on the gas. Sometimes the camera's meter locked onto the bright flame and the picture was dark overall, but occasionally the meter read the lit balloon fabric and gave me a much better exposure. The great thing about digital is that I could shoot and then quickly check my histogram and look for blinkies (over-exposed areas) and try again.