New Year’s Day of 2020 started out magnificently. We had freezing rain overnight and the trees were coated beautifully. There were a few clouds in the sky to catch the warmth of the rising sun and as it rose the trees were backlit and provided a nice starburst. Seemed like a good sign. They say that you can’t judge a book by its cover and I guess that can be said for the first day of a year. Anyway, here we are in 2021 with hopes for a better twelve months to come.
Last night I started gathering my favorite images from each month and was going to do a retrospective, something I’ve not done previously. When I got up this morning all was gone. We had a power outage for only a few seconds but that closed everything down and while PS usually offers to recover files it did not this morning. They are not lost but I will have to start sorting again in Lightroom. I decided to share this one from last New Year’s Day’s shoot. It isn’t the one I picked for January so that is still yet to come.
I did reprocess it a bit and one improvement was the removal of a dust bunny I had somehow missed and a larger file for viewing. We’ll see what I find to start this year when I go out later but there’s no ice coated trees this time around.
Happy 2021 everyone! We can all hope for better things this year, a successful vaccine and the reduction of virus cases along with less turmoil and happier people. Last year was tough on us but one can hope we’ll start to get along a little better and work together again.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Happy New Year
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Thank you. All the best for 2021 to you and Karl, Ellen.
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Nice image! The sun gives the icy landscape just enough warmth to evoke a feeling of hope for the day. Happy New Year to you!
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Thanks, Lori. Happy New Year to you, Forrest, and all the little ones you care for.
I was so excited when the ice lit up on all those trees.
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I sure like the way those trees to the left of center were lit up.
Amen to what you said about the coming year.
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I did too. I had been shooting the backlit oce frosted trees when the sun crested and fired everything up. We do need a good year or two to make up for the last one.
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Happy New Year. Viewing your beautiful photos every morning is always a great way to start the day.
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Thank you. I am glad that you are enjoying the images!
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Happy New Year!
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Thanks, Bob!
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That’s a great, vibrant image to start the year, Steve, a really blazing dawn. Happy New Year! RPT
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Thanks, Robert. Happy New Year!
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Lovely sunrise to start off the new year. Sorry you lost your work, argh. Hoping the coming year is much better than the last!
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Hallelujah to that, Eliza. 2021 has to be better…doesn’t it? At least I only lost copies and not the originals. Just a little extra work.
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Magical! And while 2020 wasn’t a good year for humans, it was an excellent year for the natural world, a year of respite from our incursions and degradations. So I think your sunrise was indeed a good omen of recovery, from a non-athropomorphic p.o.v. 🙂
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Thanks, Sel! Well, it was a mixed blessing for the natural world. Reports are that the air was cleaner, at least for a while, but there were some negatives. Because people had more time on their hands many spent more time outdoors which sounds good. But the less caring individuals left a lot of debris behind and in some cases there was some serious defacement of natural objects as egos needed to express their existence. We’re still making a mess of things and the innocents of nature are still paying the price. I always see the glass as half empty, I guess. 🙂 Anyway, here’s hoping 2021 is better for all of Earth’s inhabitants.
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I also was a bit troubled by all the people outdoors! In our case, it wasn’t so much litter that was the issue, more the sheer number of people visiting parks and forests, actually made walking there stressful at times, and I don’t know what the wildlife thought. However, am grateful for the improvement in air quality, the clearer sound of birdsong as the traffic subsided in our first lockdown, and stories like the return of dolphins to the canals of Venice for the first time in many years. I fear these improvements will be temporary, any economic recovery inevitably means a hit for the natural world. But yes we have to stay positive, at least here on WP there are many like-minded people who value nature.
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Sadly we can’t change human nature as easily as clearing the air by our mechanical absence. Much has returned to what it was here even as the numbers continue to grow. It’s amazing that just asking people to wear a small piece of cloth and refraining from partying for a while is an assault on their freedom with all else we do that restricts the same quality of life. I am fortunate that I have natural places to visit that many do not.
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Problematic, indeed. Did you persevere with Sheldrake btw? Am now about half way through…didn’t realise quite how essential fungi are to plants and soil health.
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No, I left the book and moved on to other similar subjects. I was aware of the fungal network and the reliance of most plants on a relationship with specific fungi, but I do enjoy reading about it and there is always something new to be learned.
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Fantastic image — who would have guessed it was foretelling the events of 2020.
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Thanks! I thought it was more positive at the time but the imagery of fire sure does seem prescient.
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Sorry to hear about the power hit, those are never fun. Happy New Year to you, and here’s hoping for the best this year, not that I didn’t also hope for the best last year. 🙂
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I’ve never considered an uninterruptible power supply but maybe I should. We can always hope. Sometimes it helps. 🙂
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Yeah, I’ve been a user and believer in UPS for many years now. They’ve saved my butt many times, though they don’t protect you from instances where your OS locks up. Thankfully that doesn’t happen to me often, but it seems to more as my system ages (just happened today while working in Photoshop…). I agree about hope, don’t ever want to lose that! 🙂
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I’ve been fortunate to not have lost work until this episode. I’ve lost a few external drives but I have multiples so that saved me when they quit.We have a whole house surge protector as well as one that all my equipment is plugged into. I have ordered a UPS, maybe it will be delivered by UPS, and that will replace the surge protector as it serves both functions.
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Glorious! and totally different to any New Year we’d have with it being mid-summer 😀
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Yeah, if our summer looked like this we might suspect that Hell froze over. 🙂 It was a nice start even if the rest of the year was less pleasurable.
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Very nice Steve! And Happy Photo New Year!
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Thanks, Reed. Last year was at least a good year for photography even if much else was disappointing. Better times ahead!
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What a gorgeous morning – those trees look superb! Hope there are indeed better times this year… 🙂
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If that light was indicative of a fiery year then maybe our inclement weather this New Year’s Day will be a harbinger of calmer times. 🙂 If only we could count on that. Thanks, Ann!
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It’s been a long time since I lost a project because of a power blip, but I remember very clearly the frustration. It did (and hopefully does for you too) offer an unexpected chance to relive the whole array of experiences again and maybe pick out a few that deserved more attention the first time around. Love the image you’ve selected; there is much hope there.
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I did pick a couple more than I did the first time. Fortunately I only had a few tweaks the second time around so not too much time lost.
We can certainly hope for better times ahead. Here in the states there are a few more weeks to worry through before hopefully setting off in a fresh direction.
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Even non-techie me has two gizmos that have saved me a few times. One is the UPS that I was advised to get when I had my new computer put together, and the other is the portable power bank I always carry with me now. When I went through my recent experience with the car, I had enough power to recharge my ipad and my phone twice, and could have recharged them another time (or even two, perhaps).
Your photos certainly recharge my spirit from day to day. Here’s to a year less fraught with difficulties and frustrations!
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Well, I have one on order now so that should save my bacon one of these days. If I traveled as much as you do then a portable power gizmo would be a good addition. Although I do have a pad, Amazon Fire, I don’t take it anywhere and the phone gets charged by the car. But if an emergency arises having that is a good idea. I’ll give it a think.
I am glad my images are helpful. Making them, or rather being outdoors and making them, does a lot for my spirit and sense of well-being. Glad that I am able to share that. Here, here! to a better year.
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I often charge my phone via the car, too. But when the car dies, so does any chance of charging that phone!
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Good point. I am just recovering from another power outage. The problem I have with the waited for UPS is that these outages happen at night while I am sleeping. From what I read in the description they are only good for a few minutes so if I am sleeping the crash will happen and the power will still fail after 7 minutes or so and all will be lost yet again. And I am wondering how many episodes like that a unit has before the battery needs to be changed. My answer may simply be to never put the computer to sleep with any work not saved and closed. Of course all work should be saved and my original files are still in place, I just work on copies, but sometimes I am working on several projects at once and closing them all down requires more time than I have. I guess the real solution is a behavior change.
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The length of time depends on the size of the UPS — or so I’ve assumed. Mine will provide power for a half hour. I still haven’t had to replace the battery in it, and I’ve had it for about four years.
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From what I just read in the owner’s manual it also depends on the power load of the units protected. If nothing else it will consolidate the two flat surge protectors I currently use into one tower which will declutter my desk. The battery backup will only help if I am working at the computer at a time of power loss. Most of our failures lately have happened in the middle of the night while the computer is sleeping so a half hour might not be long enough.
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You wished for less turmoil and look what happened…maybe you should wish for more. 😉 More at home and in Washington DC! I’m sorry to hear about the power outage glitch – what a pain, but at least nothing was lost. Our power’s gone out 3 times in the last couple of months. Enough! Maybe once we get past the 20th things will be every so slightly calmer but I don’t know…anyway, Happy New Year to you, belatedly.
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I did as advised by others here and got myself a UPS unit. It will serve two purposes. There’s the obvious power backup but as it is a vertical unit all my external drives will get plugged into it for both the power protection and surge protection allowing me to eliminate the present two flat surge protectors and free up some desk space.
Thanks, Lynn. Happy 2021 to you and Joe. 🙂
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I guess we should look into getting a UPS unit, too. Well, we do have that $600 check….
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$1200 if Joe (your) shares. More coming according to Joe (ours). 🙂 We used ours to buy a new washer as the old one decided it had had enough. 🙂
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