Deep In January, A Snow Falls
Week Four
It’s been a frustratingly dry and hot winter here in Colorado. That means that whenever we get Snow, we make the damn most of it that we can.
The weekend of January 24th and 25th were one of those weekends – with a forecast of snow we hit the ground running Saturday morning – and went up to a new park nearby to explore. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t work out as we arrived to find that the canyon didn’t have snow like the peaks we were driving through originally did.
Along the way though there were some beautiful views to be had – and this image of the old bones I quite like – and I think actually works well with the somewhat lack of snow (though I do plan on going back to photograph it with snow as soon as I can).
By the time we had hit the trail it was far later than I normally would want to start when dealing with snow. Photographing snow presents a challenge – especially when you are photographing it in the sunshine. The snow and ice become effectively mirrors – making scenes far brighter than they would be if there were no snow. Exposing for them is complicated – and after the first light – it can be hard to get a coherent bit of light in your scene without ruining the shadows.
By the time we reached summit I was running into the issue I had outlined above as you can see in the left scene. There was a stark contrast in the light in the shadows and the overwhelming bright from the snow. Working within this scene’s confines and lighting was a challenge but still fun.
The shadow leads the viewer in towards the bark of the trees in the rear of the scene.
Regardless, Sophie and I had a wonderful time. The world was still and calm, and we had the place to ourselves.
As we neared the tail end of the hike we were walking through some meadows – and the clouds running over the landscape in the distance do a good job of isolating the scene – and making us feel higher up than we actually were when photographing this.
In Summary
A few major things happened in January. In no particular order:
- Patriots are going to the Super Bowl.
- We got a tiny bit of snow.
- My scheduled was shaken up a bit.
I’m excited to see what the future holds. See you in February.