Once upon a Sunday dreary

The rain hung in for yet another day, producing the kind of cold dampness that feels like it's seeping into your bones. So it was with a bit of reluctance that I changed out of my comfy pajama pants into jeans and headed out to try and take some pictures. My first stop was Nemesis Pond, but I was greeted by the sight of three people paddling a canoe at the end of the pond where the geese and beavers have made their homes—obviously eliminating any chance I had of seeing wildlife during my visit. Then I went to Whimsy Pond, but nothing there really caught my attention. So I headed back toward Arlington, turning onto a stretch of East Arlington Road I don't normally travel to see what it might have to offer.

I spotted a red bird sitting up on a phone wire as I made my way down the road, and, thinking it might possibly be a scarlet tanager, quickly pulled into a nearby driveway. It turned out to be a cardinal, which I didn't really mind one bit:



I eventually made my way over to Kelley Stand Road, where I noticed a runoff stream making its way down the side of the mountain:



I decided I'd do a little experiment to see what kind of a difference various settings made in regards to the final image. So first I picked a spot and took a photo with the camera set on the default point-and-shoot mode:



And then I took the same picture with the camera in sports mode, which increases the shutter speed (among other tweaks):



Pretty cool, huh? This last one was also shot with the camera in sports mode:



I'm looking forward to trying this setting the next time I visit the pond, especially when the birds or beavers are active—I think the result could be some really interesting shots.