006: Snow Anemones

The snow is still here, and small icicles continue to form from the meltwaters.
It's been difficult to find good subjects today, despite the profound change that an unusually precipitous cold snap can bring. Maybe it's because I find the local area too familiar (or maybe it's just a bit dull,) but I'll put it down to the cold, a slight lack of enthusiasm and the fact that I went out once already today - just not with my camera.
I went to buy some onions and crackers on that short trip. Some of those badly-needed onions were cooked slowly in butter until light brown, slushy and sweet, which when added to lentils and some leftover roast vegetables made a very warming thick soup-stew. Just the thing for days like this. So I'm justifiably compensated, as well as sated. I could have gone out twice, but I wanted to take time over making an interesting lunch today.

Japanese anemones still provide a pretty display in winter, long after they have dried up and fallen still. Flowerheads stubbornly cling the wispy stems and provide a ghostly and beautiful sight when coated in frost or swathed in thick snow.
When shooting them like this, I find that the paler the backdrop the better, and as wide an aperture you can get away with to select details, smudge others and impart a satisfying sense of depth. But not so wide that only one or two heads can be seen. This one was shot at f/2.8.