Looks like the east of UK has been receiving some heavy snow - the heaviest in 18 years. And it's really hampering traffic and other public services. A few schools were closed in my area and of course, children are out sledging, throwing snowballs and building snowmen. It's about 30cm deep, fluffy powdery snow not the kind that falls on your hand and has a snowflake pattern to them. Blizzards have been going on and off.

Was inspired to go out and take some photos after seeing Ghostly Substance's photo over at Dannychoo.com but unfortunately, the blankets of snow here were all messed up by then. I can't see the sunset from where I am either. Not sure where to catch sight of it.

Be warned. There's a bit of camera musings ahead.

Been getting used the Canon A720's manual controls i.e. adjusting the ISO, aperture, shutter speed and focus.

All these were taken manually. I notice auto mode does a poor job of capturing both the sky and scenery sometimes.

Also decided to try out the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio to shoot these because that's the kind of displays more and more people are starting to adapt with HDTVs.

To be honest, it feels like I'm missing something out when I shoot in this mode instead of the usual 4:3. Especially when I shoot in portrait orientation.

Not sure if my interest in photography will eventually reach the point where I'll purchase a DSLR and set of lenses. Having had the chance to try one on display though, I find they're a lot easier and quicker to adjust with their physical controls instead of having to run through a set of menus. Their optical view finder should come in handy too when the LCD fails in bright sunlight.

And it's evening. The skies in this area occasionally turn orange for some reason. I think it has something to do with the number of orange street lamps we have but if that was the case, it should be orange every night so I don't know...

You can just about make out all the little lit windows. Playing in the snow is fun but, it's great to be sitting by a fireplace while watching the snow drifting onto the untouched scenery outside.

Hmmm, I don't think that trail was me... Wasn't paying attention!

All the kids were on the steeper slopes still sledging at this time which was around half six.

Well, it's going to be "fun" trudging through the sludge once all this melts! For now, it's clearing a path for the car.