This is Charlie. She’s an Araucana chick, about one week old in this photo.

She and her two nest-mates (another Auracana named Pete Mitchell and a Welles Sommer named Ramekin) will stop being cute in another week or two. Time is of the essence!

What kind of “cute chick” photos should I be taking? The opportunity is fleeting, and I’m taking requests.  

Araucana chick is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

You’ve seen me post photos of chickens. As of last Friday, we had six. 5 ISA browns and a Barred Rock. They’re a bit destructive, so we had to keep them in their little chicken yard (they tear the grass in the lawn up looking for snacks). Last weekend we expanded their yard with an extra hundred feet of fencing, so now they can run around part of the forest eating bugs.

After the work was done, the hammer and some nails were sitting on the front porch, and I grabbed a photo while I was tooling around with my camera.

Hammer and Nails is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

I don’t know what you see here, but to me, it’s pretty obvious that the rocks for this wall were quarried from different locations. That doesn’t mean I’m right, but it sure looks that way.

Stone Wall is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

I took a couple hundred photos of some icicles forming about three weeks ago. Here are two that I really liked. Hope you enjoy!

Why so many photos, you might ask? Even with a camera with fast shutter speed, getting the shot with a drop of water less than an inch away from the icicle it just fell from is a feat of timing. That, and the camera is so close to the icicles, the depth of field for the focus is very shallow, so I had to have a fast shutter, tight aperture, and very good timing to get the shot. More often than not, the water droplet was either attached to the icicle or just outside of the frame. Most of these shots had to be deleted because the timing is so hard.

The reflection in the water drops is that of the trees across the yard – the reflection is upside down due to how the light refracts in the water drop.

Icicles forming is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

About two years ago, as part of the monthly photography scavenger hunt I participate in, we were asked to take a photo to represent the phrase, “This is it.” It was just after the Michael Jackson film of the same name came out. I wandered the streets of Manchester, taking various photos of the letters I and T in signs, thinking I would combine them afterwards to spell “it” repeatedly… in the end, I took a photo of a very dirty Infiniti’s name plate, and used that to make my “it” photo.

I’m thinking about cars today because the car I’ve been driving for four and a half years had a rough weekend, and my mechanic told me it was going to cost many thousands of dollars to get it fixed properly. No fun.

What is IT? is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

I like taking pictures of fire and smoke. Maybe because fire is analogous to life. The way it moves and feeds. Perhaps I just like the patterns fire makes. Maybe because answering the question, “What is a flame?“, is so hard.

(How’s my punctuation on that last sentence? No time to look it up – leave a note in the comments, please.)

Candle Flame is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

A photo of a vase I encountered on a family vacation, and its contents’ shadows.

Vase is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

I lived most of my life in Arizona, where you can grow corn all winter long. Here in New Hampshire, this is what the corn looks like in January…

This image was taken with me bending all the way down to the ground, the camera just a few inches above the snow.

Winter Corn is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

The other day I was making pizza dough, and coated my hands with flour before remembering to take my ring off. I slid it across the counter (get it away from the dough – no one wants to find that in their pizza). We thought the flour trail looked cool, so here’s a photo.

If you look closely, you can see my fingerprint (in flour) on the side of the ring.

The Baker’s Ring is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal

My sister and brother-in-law hired the Squash Blossom Boys to play their wedding (above). Singer Dustin Orbeson plays the mandolin (above) and is seen in black and white below.

My uncle said he would never have chosen a blue grass group for a wedding… but it worked (above: Dustin Orbeson, and Kit Murray’s banjo (left side of the photo is the end of the banjo, the tuning screws). This photo was taken by fire light. There was a small fire outside the tent, and the band hung around outside for a bit before going on to play.

Here’s Kyle Malone, also by fire light:

Anyhow, back to what my uncle said. A blue grass band at a wedding? It worked. It really worked.

For those who really want  a glimpse into my personal life, check out this track by the Avett Brothers. A January wedding? I’m in. Especially if my family is involved. This song plays on my iPod at least once a week. To my sister, whom I adore without question: thank you for inviting me to your January wedding.

Last picture from the night: new bass player Maren Hatch. Is a name change in order?

Squash Blossom (Boys?) is brought to you by j.ronald.lee - photography / journal