Warm By The Fire

Though the temperature is getting warmer, the mercury took a nosedive this past weekend.  To be honest, in this very mild Winter, it wasn't really that cold.  Only reaching -14C on the outdoor thermometer.  However, with the howling wind, it felt more like -26C at certain times.  With that in mind, we lit up the fireplace for most of the last 48hours to help with the heating.  The fireplace at home is a little small, but during out Summer vacation, I enjoy taking some nice shots of the fire we build outside.  With there still being a bit of a chill in the air, I thought I'd share one here to help warm up anyone who needed a little bit of heat.  The photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/13sec, ISO 100 at 70mm. I was taking a bit of a risk shooting at such a low speed without a tripod, but I've learned to prop myself against a good chair while taking these shots.  A slow speed was also necessary since I wanted to get the motions of the flame as I felt it looked beter that way against the burnt wood in the background.  They're saying 12C later this week, time to break out the shorts!