John & Anne Wiley

2011/02/21

Full Color = B&W

Studies in black & white – that’s my theme today, along with some swirling shapes.
I took this swirly b&w in between some bumps we felt along the valley between Butte and Helena in Montana:

1361 Frozen LakeRiver
1361 Frozen swirly LakeRiver

With views like this,  a friend wrote concerned we’d been freezing in our little plane on the way north. Admittedly in anticipation of the trip, I imagined shivering with blankets stuffed all around me. However, like a car, heat is generated by the engine, so we were totally toasty for the whole trip.  In fact more toasty than the heat coming from the Nissan Sentra we’ve rented for driving around Edmonton. John actually flew in his sandals, & I wore thin socks without shoes!

Lethbridge was our “port of entry” into Canada, and this was the runway that greeted us. Fast-flowing  drifts of snow felt like being in the middle of a river flowing all around us.  The video I took (see photo page link on the right) shows it better than the still. Great landing by John as usual:

1375 Snow river on runway

1375 Snow river on runway

Here’s a view back at Lethbridge as we left the next morning on the 10th. More b&w, some swirling roadways and river. Swirling shapes, frozen rivers and lakes abound – I had images of ice skating on natural ponds while here, but as people here say, it’s “too cold to skate” now!

1393 Lethbridge Valley
1393 Lethbridge Valley

All these photos that look b&w are all actually in full Color. It’s just that there is NO color in Alberta in winter. The only thing that stands out as color is red:

1364 Red farmhouse on white

1364 Red farmhouse on white

Below is the most b&w of all, and the impetus for my study. Though in full color it looks like a b&w etch-a-sketch, as though if you lifted up that gray cellophane paper, the lines of the town would disappear:

1397 Black&White Town, Alberta

1397 Black&White Town, Alberta

Overhead Edmonton was b&w too – the houses all have snow on the roofs, so you only see the outside razor-thin edges of black that look like pencil outlines.  My ending photo today is this – b&w, swirls – and Pyraminds for your pleasure.  I haven’t yet discovered what the pyramids are about but will update when I get their story:

1404 Snowy pyraminds Edmonton

1404 Snowy pyraminds Edmonton

Currently we are at 0 degrees (-18c) and that is warmer than yesterday, and we’re off to move from hotel to our B&B!

~by Anne

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