Long Exposure #1

As with the Sunset series (is that what you would call blipping sunsets every day?), I thought I would expand my repetoire a bit with some long exposures. I have admired so many of your long exposures that it was time for me to "suck it up" (yes, I know there is a lot to suck up there!), and give it a go!

After last night's fiasco, I decided to try something a bit tamer - I went to the university quad and took this shot of the quad and The Mackey School of Mines. Please go large to see the statue of John Mackey, who founded the school. This shot was a bit of challenge, since I was able to find only a couple of minutes where the winds were not blowing at 60-70 mph. My first few shots were horrible - movement in the trees and I was really concerned that the tripod would blow away. So, I anchored the tripod with my kit bag which included a very heavy flashlight. Thank goodness for hooks on the bottoms of the center tripod section. And it was a cold wind, so I was frozen to the bone!
After coming home and warming up, I processed the shot using Silver Efex, then put a deep blue filter over the black and white.

Other than freezing my "otherside" taking this shot, today was busy trying to finish year-end accounting and resolving other business issues and trust issues. We also had to clean out a couple of closets in preparation for the new stairs to the loft of our townhouse. We are expanding into the attic to make a useable room instead of just a loft. Our contractor will begin layout next week.

We were hoping to get our packing and final cleaning done today and to leave tomorrow for SoCal. But things took us much longer, so we will delay our departure to Monday. The weather also looks to cooperate better for driving over the mountain passes if we leave Monday. We hope to be gone just a week, then return here to Reno for a couple of weeks, then head back to Denver. This itinerary, however, is subject to (and probably will) change.

Thank you all for your great comments, stars and hearts for yesterday's sunset shot. I hope I am not boring your too much with all the sunsets, and I hope you enjoy this little break.

Hope your Sunday is wonderful!