Winter Lace

This winter is completely different than last winter. We have had little snowfall, and the temperatures have been above freezing for most of the time. So when we had a bit of snow last weekend I was eager to get out and photograph. But I had a time constraint where I literally only had about 30 minutes of good morning light to catch the snow before it would melt and/or fall off the trees within hours. So I did not expect to find a "keeper" in this short time span, but I tried.

This scene was found at Tyler Park. Normally (i.e. without snow) I would look at this scene and say "What a mess". But with snow it takes on a completely different feel. What I like about this image is the "busy" nature of the trees and branches, pointing in all directions, contrasting with the calmness of the fallen snow and soft morning light. Do you get the same impression?



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Hiatus

It may have seemed like I've been on a hiatus for a while. I have not posted any new images in a few weeks. Between the changeover from fall to winter, which is a difficult time to photograph scenery, and the holidays, I have not been highly motivated to create new work.

We have had a lot of cold weather, but not much snow. Today we were lucky to get a soft snowfall during the day. I took advantage and made haste to my local park to try and photograph the covered bridge there. I was able to get a few nice images, although the one I "wanted" was not possible since the higher water level prevented me from reaching the position I have used before.

I am finding photographing snow difficult. There is always a contrast between the brightest white, mid-tones, and the shadows. The sky was overcast today, so that lessened the contrast, but that can lead to drab images, especially of the gray sky. On the other hand a sunny sky would have pumped up the contrast to the extreme, making the scene very harsh. I think I prefer the overcast conditions, where I have more control on making adjustments.

Single Snowfall

This winter has been relatively mild in the Philly area. Temperatures have dipped below freezing a few times, and we have gotten some rain, but the combination of cold weather and precipitation has been few and far between. So I could not pass up the opportunity to try and capture some compelling winter shots. Since we're almost into March I don't know if we'll get another significant snowfall this winter.

The "ideal" winter conditions are often hard to come across, especially for part-time photographers with day-jobs. If it's a weekday then after shoveling the driveway I'm off to work. By the time I get the chance to grab the camera and get out and shoot more often than not the snow has blown off the trees and/or rooftops, or the sun is out causing super-high contrasty conditions.

The other problem is simply one of mobility. I like to capture the scenes when they are mostly un-touched by man, wind, whatever. But that means getting out soon after the storm ends, but the road conditions are usually less than ideal and the plows are still roaming, causing additional headaches.

Yesterday there were only a few inches of snow so the road conditions were not that bad. The sky was still overcast, creating even light, but there was a light rain most of the day. That did not affect the snow too much in the scenes, but it made my job harder by trying to keep the camera and lens dry.

I did manage to capture a few nice shots, like the one below. Before long it will be spring and the snow will be a distant memory, unless you have a nice snow scene hanging on your wall.