November ushers in the change of seasons. Autumn is ending. Winter is beginning. We transitioned from warm and sunny conditions one day, to cold and snowing the next. Overnight we received about three inches of wet snow in Medina, Ohio. Wanting to get out, we ventured north to the shores of Lake Erie. Call me crazy but I find exhilarating the wild weather often experienced at the edge of our Great Lake. Today, with steady northwest winds of about 20 miles-per-hour, the lake offered plenty of action — and it was mighty cold! The air temperature of about 34 degrees (F) equated to something in the 20s, and as I explored camera in hand, those hands and my ears quickly began to ache. Now that I live farther inland, my visits to Lake Erie’s coast are less convenient and less frequent; they are no less exciting.
bay village
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Taking advantage of a cold but sunny Sunday afternoon, we made a quick trip to the shore of Lake Erie. The shoreline was piled with snow-covered ice, in wave-shaped mounds parallel to the coast. Ice that formed on a guard rail made glistening caramel-colored curtains, even walls, joining the steel tubes of the framework to each other and to the ground. And a stream flowed beneath a bright, snowy ice layer, visible sometimes, down a rocky fall and, under cover ice once again, to the lake. Nice to see the lake again.
This was the scene midday over Lake Erie off Bay Village, Ohio: clouds building over the water and a tiny boat heading in to dock. A few hours later the sky became overcast and a compact thunderstorm drenched the area. It looks like it will be a stormy and wet weekend. We shall see what the next couple of days bring but we hope to get out and enjoy.

View to the east, along Huntington Beach, with Downtown Cleveland in the distance and a wine bottle on sandy ice.
A little jaunt to the Lake Erie shoreline this morning gave us dramatic vistas of sky and ice! The lake is only partly frozen and great plates of ice have been driven into piles near-shore off Huntington Beach in Bay Village, Ohio. Lighting conditions were constantly changing with the sky. Clouds overhead were white while those low to the horizon took on a brownish hue. Temperatures hovering in the upper-30s (F) allowed me to explore the area a bit and take it all in. By afternoon our overcast had returned. We have, still, memories of the ice-jammed beach.
A quick visit to Cahoon Memorial Park in Bay Village, Ohio, Friday gave me a wonderful view of the changing weather. It was lovely and warm near the lake midday. Cold and rainy later. The skies and the waters reflected changes that have already taken place, and those about to occur. It was all good.
Today's lunch time diversion (yes, a "work" Saturday) was another trip to the Cleveland Metroparks' Huntington Reservation in Bay Village, Ohio. Stone wall-lined Porter Creek caught my eye. The already cloud-subdued light filtering through the green trees was beautifully soft. What really grabbed my attention was the interplay of light, shadow, and green growth against the cold, dark concrete of an ancient interurban rail bridge. Too soon time to go back to the office. {sigh}
PowerShot dinner? Sounds like I had my fill of whiskey or something. No, I had a quick meal at Taco Bell then headed to the Bay Village / Westlake border where there are some interesting buildings and railroad tracks. I thought that might be a nice spot to shoot a few more test images to get familiar with the little Canon PowerShot A650 and check out the results.
The settings selected by the camera appear very, very strange to me but here's what the camera displays for each image: For the building (above) we have an ISO of 80, 1/1250 sec., f/4.5. Huh? I'll verify in the EXIF when I get a chance. For the weathered paint in the photo below, it's the same! The images seem well exposed but I'd have selected for a slower shutter speed and a higher f-stop in this case. I'll be making adjustments soon.
Crazy sounding settings or not, the pictures are very sharp at full size and have good color with and without minor adjustments in The GIMP. Exposures are very good as well, showing excellent tonal range and shadow detail.
So, once I get the A650 dialed in to my preferences, I think it will probably travel with me quite often.