What did you shoot on Jan 1?

There's a Weekly Challenge on for posting your best shot from Jan 1.
How about showing us some of your extras?
Post any from the 1st through this first weekend here in this thread.

I like this idea Catherine. Maybe it will get us out more and post more. But you have to be aware that we can't always get out every week. I will start and hopefully others will follow.
I got up early Friday AM and headed to Multnomah Fallls (heard that there was ice on the falls). When I left home it was 34F and dropped down to 24F at the falls. It was cool, but the sight was awesome. I've never personally seen this before. I usually stay away from the gorge in the winter. But the roads were dry and clear and said "why not"? Over spray from the falls made it a little hazardous from the thick ice, especially up on the bridge. The ice was real thick on the sidewalk at Horsetail Falls and nobody was attempting to get down to the bridge at Latourell Falls. But it did create nice winter shots.

Nice, Don. Good for you for getting out. In my winter waterfall photos I'm often tempted to adjust the color temp to make the water a more neutral white, but the blueish tone to the water here really emphasizes the coldness.

Thanks for the comments, Greg. I did adjust some of the blue out, but decided to leave some due to my experience of weathering the cold temperature in hopes that's what viewers would feel.

Nice shot Don! It definitely does give the impression of cold.

I did not get out on New Year's day. I stayed in the house and did chores and watched my Ducks completely over power Florida State.

This shot was actually taken the day after Thanksgiving. I'm posting it here because this is what our holiday season has been about. This is my son Joe getting married in Fairbanks Alaska. This is totally a wedding Joe would have - outside in a park, 20 degrees below 0 F, in the snow, 2 hours before the rest my family and I flew home. Here's the story:

We all went to Fairbanks because after 7 years in grad school, Joe was finally defending his dissertation and getting his PhD (he's a computational physicist). This was on 11/20. We also stayed to have Thanksgiving with his fiance's family. Well, on Thanksgiving morning Joe and Holly told the families they would be getting married the next day. They didn't have all their paper work finished, but don't worry 'cause "we'll pick that up in the morning when city hall opens at 8. Oh, and the officiant hasn't completed all her paper work yet either. No problem getting you to the airport on time for your 12:30 flight back to Seattle." Well, we sat around for a couple hours but at 10:00 everything came together, we headed to the park across the street and they got married. Did I mention this was outside in 4" of snow and 20 degrees below 0? It was AWESOME!

We will still have the planned wedding in July with all family and friends. the only reason they got married is financial. A week after Thanksgiving they drove a pickup and trailer with everything they own to Joe's new job at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. If they weren't married they would have received half the moving allowance and Holly would not be eligible for health insurance. They spent Christmas day driving across North Dakota. They got there safe and Joe started his new job today.

Momentous new year for us and I had to share. Oh, and we are extremely happy to have Holly in the family. They've been living together for a long time now so she was basically part of the family anyway.

Sorry for the long winded story!

Oh my! Youth…

And I hope the respective mother-in-laws were able to roll with it… like you, Steve! What a story… And you ‘instantly’ a wedding photographer on top of everything else! Congrats…and best wishes to the next of kin! Hey, Steve Lepenske and I are headed to Snoq Falls to check out the possible flood waters…I mention it only because now that I know you have recessive / impulsive DNA…why not join us!! Ken S

New Years Day I hit the trail at Mount Pisgah Arboretum while it was still dark and hiked to the summit to enjoy the sunrise view. This is a popular local spot and there were about 50 other nature lovers up for the dawn show. On the left side of the photo is a bronze sculpture memorial for Jed Kesey (son of author Ken Kesey). The sculpture designed it so that the sun appears through slots in the memorial during the solstices (New Years is close enough to winter solstice that it still works).

If you are visiting the Eugene-Springfield area in Oregon, the Mount Pisgah Arboretum/Howard Buford Park complex is great for nature photography year round, and has miles of trails through riparian, meadow, oak savannah and forest habitats.

Nice shot, Greg. I like the sin-kiss in the sculpture, the low clouds and the silhouette of all the photographers.
Good comp and story photo.

And congratulations to Steve and his extended family. It looked cold.

Great shots and stories!
Ken, that's quite a wedding tale to be told among family no doubt as legend in the coming generations.
Greg, thanks for the tip on the Arboretum/Park complex in Eugene; sounds like a great spot.
Don, thanks for getting us started on the right foot!
I did head outdoors on Jan 1 but on a short jaunt to the Volunteer Park Conservatory. Just reopened on Dec 6, after some remodeling and maintenance, it was crowded but resplendent with greenery and flowers. The light was pretty bad (mostly sunny) for my planned outing (as in, the day before making an ultimatum to myself, "Get the h*** out and shoot something on the 1st!") and I hope to go again soon under better conditions– like pouring rain! It was still a good lesson in finding the best light, angles to shoot, perspective, etc., within a confined space...

Here's a nice surprise I found on the way over to the Conservatory: The view from Louisa Boren Lookout– over the base of Capitol Hill looking NE over Lake Washington and the new floating bridge ( SR 520 ) under construction, out to the Cascade Mountains that finally have some snow on them.

And here is an orchid variety at the Conservatory. Just about straight out of the camera: D750, 105/2.8 on tripod used more like a monopod given the space limitations, circ.pol.; f3.2, -1.67ev. ~50% crop. This is one plant in the Clise Orchid Collection c. 1921.