Three years ago I joined my first photography club. It was 20 days before Christmas and we got together to shoot Christmas Lights. Prior to that date, I used the Auto setting to take all the pictures. I may have touched the dial to choose the mold between Portrait and Landscape, but I had never set it on Aperture, Shutter, or Manual priority because I had no clue what they are. I swore to myself that I wanted to learn the skill and I have never touched Auto again since. Gratefully, that decision has changed my life.
We can only take Christmas Light pictures in the evening, in December and that means, on cold nights. Stocking cap and glove are manageable. But it is not fun if a raincoat is also required (for myself and the camera). It was a rainy and windy night. I could not do anything without dressing my camera up in its rain jacket. Visibility was bad outside and the inside was full of people. Everyone was trying to stay out of the rain.
I was overwhelmed with the amount of interior Christmas decorations. Too much, in my taste. These few teddy bears caught my eyes. The simple sleigh scene was mindfully placed. One teddy was almost fallen out of the sleigh and the other one was rolling down the hill sideways… There was an underwater scene dwelling with octopus, squid, fish, and seahorse, and guess what is that thing hanging above the ‘water’? It is a duck! How cute it is to only show the duck bottom with two legs moving (swimming)? Cranes are one popular subject in Chinese brush paintings, but I have never seen real cranes till three years ago. Because of photography, I have seen many things that I only learned from the school textbooks in the past and would never dream of viewing in person. These two cranes look simple but the silhouettes are elegant. I admire artistic and creative work. Someone has a good idea to imitate a flower bush by trimming the branches and using the cluster of red lights to resemble flowers.
I love the sculptured silhouette of the hull. With the addition of the ‘wave’ and ‘rippled water’, this sailboat is surely a piece of artwork.
The wind was blowing hard and rain was coming down heavily. I had no choice but to pick up my tripod and called it a day.
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