Snow!

Snow!

I knew that Virginia has distinct seasons, but I didn't dare to hope for real snowfall.
But voila! Last week we were blessed with a flaky, flurry gift from the sky that accumulated on the ground as a pleasingly crunchy layer of snow.

New Cape Henry Light

When the flakes began to fall, I happened to be out running errands. I rearranged my plans and made my way to the lighthouse at Fort Story as quickly as I could, practically tripping over my own feet as I scrambled out of the car, camera in hand.

After photographing the lighthouse, I started to walk back to the car — then changed my mind. I wasn't dressed to be outdoors for long, but I couldn't resist a quick detour. I had never seen the beach in the snow before, and this was my chance!

Sandbags and sand dunes peek out from the accumulating snow.

I made my way over the sand dune...

...and found the beach looking like this: covered in a white blanket that blurred the distinctions between sand, surf, and sky.

Surf and snow resembled each other in the predominantly white landscape. I was mesmerized by the matching curvy contours of the border between sea and land.

It was beautiful!

And just in case you're curious, the photos for this entry were taken with a Nikon D5000, using various in-camera monochrome settings, then processed with ShakeItPhoto for iPhone.
Fun, fun, fun.

Old Point Comfort Light

Old Point Comfort Light

Old Point Comfort Light is located at the entrance to Hampton Roads, and at 207 years old, it is the oldest light in service in Chesapeake Bay. It is located on the grounds of Ft. Monroe, although its construction predates the fort by several decades. It is only 58 feet tall, yet its red light still serves to guide ships into the bay to this day.

Holga Love

You might remember me mentioning that friends and family seemed to have conspired to spoil me with the perfect birthday gifts that all work together perfectly: a plastic Holga camera, a set of filters for it, and a negative scanner to digitize the resulting images. You may also remember that I immediately loaded it with 35mm film and tried it out in Rhode Island. But the camera is made primarily for medium format film, and -drumroll- I finally had the first two rolls of 120 film developed. Here are some of the images from the first roll. I used black and white film and a red filter... hence the dark, über-contrasty look.

The Holga accompanied me on a trip to the Rosewell Ruins in Gloucester, VA.

I was charmed by the ruins themselves...

...as well as the surrounding woods. I was so happy to see that my Holga's plastic lens really does add a bit of characteristic blur around the edges. Just like it's supposed to.
Grain elevators in Parkston.

A photo of more railroad tracks in town, sporting the vignetting that is typical of Holga images.

And a tree. Vignetting and blur... yess!

This was the trial run for the Holga loaded with the proper 120 film. OPTEST Sat!