172. Fir-Needles-in-Snow Star

Yesterday afternoon I took some time to go for a walk in the snow and lie on a bench outside in the warmest sun I've felt for weeks with a panoramic view of the Alps. As the snow had begun to melt away, all the little branches, cones and tons of fir needles resurfaced - which is what inspired me to make this star:

168. Snow Star

There's a lot of snow around here - by my standards, that is. ;) So I took the opportunity to make another (simple) snow star:

Also, here's a guest star contribution by one of my fellow interns I met today:

Those people are great fun to have around.^^

152. Star Flakes

Right, I remember how I decided that simply taking a photo of a star would not be enough - I'd have to contribute something to the star for it to become one. Today's project is a bit controversial when it comes to that resolution because what I did was basically take some photos.

But: It wasn't as easy as that. I had to play around with my camera's functions in order to get a sharply focused picture of those tiny tiny tiny snowflakes that came down this morning. The advantage with really tiny snowflakes is that they are actually seperate snowflakes that look like crystal stars.

(The fabric of my jacket which they fell on actually looks like the smoothest fabric you can imagine, so that might give you an idea of how closely this is zoomed in...)

The other thing I did to 'make' these stars was to reduce the contrast of the background a little on the computer so that the snowflakes would be visible more clearly.

I simply love the look of real snowflakes so these just have to count.

Right, I convinced myself. :)

145. Snow Cake Star

Unbelievable: We finally got the first real snow this winter! So I had to abandon my studies and go out for a bit.

I went up my favourite mountain - well, depending on what you are used to it could be called 'mountain' or 'hill', but where I live people call it a mountain. I was a little late so the light started to fade before I reached the top; and though I had already made it down this mountain in the dark before, I didn't want to try it again with a ground slippery from snow and (just-about-to-become-ice-)mud. Fortunately, I passed by this beautiful spot just below the top and was amazed to find it still barely touched.

(It's usually a really nice viewpoint but today there wasn't much to be viewed as the air was thick with grey mist.)

I used the snow on the stone table to make a star (almost killing my fingers in the process):

Here's how passers-by might see it from the path just above that viewpoint:

Only then did I realise that it looked very much like a cake - a Snow Cake (beautiful film, by the way). I didn't eat it, though - found myself some other snow to eat.^^