New Header For Winter

Short note: All this years, I thought Boxing Day refers to the Muhammad Ali kind of boxing. However, I only got to know the real meaning of Boxing Day recently from my Canadian lecturer, Mr Paul. Boxing Day is actually a day where the less fortunate and poor ones will go from house to house, carrying boxes in hope that they would receive contributions from the people.

It started snowing in Nagaoka more than a week ago. However, it usually takes several days before the snow starts to accumulate, depending on the snowfall rate. This year, Nagaoka received quite some amount of snow right from the first day it snowed, and it continued for about three continuous days. Too bad it didn't snow on Christmas yesterday, which dashed my hopes of having a white Christmas.

Nevertheless, it wasn't that bad after all because the weather was sunny. I have been thinking to find a suitable day to go for a photography session for my winter header. It is already winter and it would be weird to let the foliage leaves header to remain up there as my blog header. It is time for a change, and I decided to do it yesterday.

I didn't have to brainstorm for the location because there is a park behind my school, which takes only less than fifteen minutes of walking. This time however, I was too lazy to walk and I went to Yukyuzan Park with a bike. This park might be familiar to some who has been following my blog for a while, because it is the location we usually go for sakura sight-seeing every year.

The difference this time is that the park is fully covered with snow.

I did a mistake by going there wearing a sneaker as I thought they would clear the walking paths for visitors. If I had known that the placed is totally covered with snow, I would have brought my PCK boots along haha. Anyway, it was too late to complain by then already; so I had no choice but to walk through the snow. It is tiring and time consuming at the same time when one walks on the snow, because depending on the condition of the snow, the whole leg could go all the way down when one steps on the snow. Imagine walking in a desert, but the sand is replaced with harden snow.

I think those who had experience this would be able to relate what I am explaining here.

The location I picked to snap a picture for my header. How different it looked during the spring in April.

This is the forth time I am doing a seasonal blog header, after my spring, summer, and autumn earlier this year. And out of the four, this is the most challenging one, physically that I don't think I am gonna do it again haha. But to be honest, it was actually fun and exciting because it was a matter of trial and error.

Of course it was not done by just one shot but after a few shots, I am glad I got the perfect picture.

The tripod I borrowed from the school.

The foot marks I left when I walk to and forth from the tripod and the posing spot lol. Smart adjustments made it invisible from the final result.

More sophisticated effects could be added if I use Photoshop to edit the picture, but too bad I am a Photoshop noob haha. No choice-lah lol. Again, I only used simple editing software like Picasa, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to edit the contrast and brightness.

Actually, I think this is the best blog header of the four that I have made so far, and personally I am kinda like it quite a lot. The snowy effect in which I added to the blog template makes it even realistic, don't you think so? Like it or not, kindly drop your comments in the comment box, okay? At least I know where I can improve the next time I make my new blog header, which would most probably fall around in spring next year.

At least the struggle walking through the snow was worth it lol!