What’s worse then having one leg soaked up to the knee in freezing cold water while you are wandering around outside in a snow covered nature preserve trying to take photographs? Simple, having both legs soaked up to the knee in freezing cold water. Did that sloshy feeling in my boots as I gingerly stepped on the thinning ice send me running home for hot chocolate and dry socks? Heck no.
The winter is coming to an end, I can feel it deep in my bones. Though the sky might still try and fool us with an occasional downpour of aggressive looking flurries we know what is coming, spring. Change is in the wind, so to speak.
That means the wonderful white makeup that dresses everything in a cool serene fluff will soon be gone.
Each season has its own flavor, its own unique sense of what it is and photographs taken then reflect that. Compare a picture of the same scene taken at different times of the year and you’ll see what I mean.
A tree in winter is not the same as it is in the spring, summer, or fall. The more pictures you take and the more time you put into your photography the more observant you become and the more you notice things like that.
That means that some pictures can only be taken at certain times of the year. If you want to capture a lone tree bare of any leaves on a field of bleak featureless landscape in order to express that feeling of loneliness hidden deep within, you’d better get a move on.
Trudging through the snow I was doing just that, trying to capture the last desperate gasps of winter and the mood it affords my pictures. No way was a bit of water in the shoe going to stop me. (A bit meaning that within minutes because of the cold my pants were stiff as a board, but I didn’t notice until I did finally return home)
The sun was just above the horizon and quickly setting into the distant line of trees and houses. My time was short (as it usually is) and I could see the shadows getting longer and longer.
My tracks in the once fresh snow became a mess of criss-crossing paths as I hurried back and forth catching the light at different times at the different places. At sunset the character of the light changes so fast that 5 minutes makes a lot of difference in how a scene looks and can transform a boring composition into a thought evoking masterpiece.
I finally called it quits when the sun tipped below the horizon and the world around me took on a shade of muted blue. My awesome Columbia boots had done their job and kept me warm despite being soaked. My legs, however, were not so lucky, and required a hot shower to bring life back to them.
Man I love photography!
