Frozen, out
January has been a lean month for photography. Work is nuts and I’ve worked almost every day this month, so my outings have been limited. Worst for me is that this is in the middle of one of the coldest spells we’ve had in a few years, and I can’t get out to test my gear! Nearly every year it gets down to -30 or so for a while, but the other morning it was -39, and I couldn’t get out in it!
Is that a first world problem? Cry me a frozen river… :)
Anyway, here are a few meagre offerings. First, I spent a good part of a day out in Whiteshell Provincial Park, bushwhacking through the snow and hunting for a set of rapids I’d found on Google maps named Caux Falls. This didn’t pan out: the “falls” weren’t much to look at and the light was bad at that location, so I stopped by the Petroglyphs trail before sunset hoping the slanting light would make for some good lighting. I was right, and found some dried plants bathed in golden light, but I got more than I bargained for: in both shots by the time I’d set up the tripod and framed it, the sun had already drifted sideways. Still, it was a good learning experience in how fast the sun moves:
That was a fairly mild day, only -27. When you’re bushwhacking through the snow, you can unzip your coat and take your mitts off, that’s for sure.
Another day I managed to spend a few hours between work sessions back at Bird’s Hill Park. This was a -30 day, and yet the chickadees were still out begging. I had a few roasted almonds with me, and one of them managed to cart off a whole one, the nut almost bigger than its head, while another looked on bemused:
How do their little feet not shatter? Their feathers must be extremely efficient, that little white spot near its eye is a fleck of snow. Photography-wise, I’m kind of impressed the K-70 managed to focus properly what with the twigs in the way…there was only about a 1/2 second of hunting and it nailed it.
The full moon was rising behind the chickadee, so I framed up a telephoto of the scene. I’ll admit I’m not sure I even like this picture that much, it’s kind of plain (even if the scene was lovely in person), but others seem to like it more than I do, so here it is:
On my way out of the park, the last light cast some great shadows on the wind-sculpted snow near the marshes. I wish I had done more with this. I think getting lower, or moving closer to select a smaller section, might have helped, but the light faded quickly and the moment was lost.
Final picture. I’ve shot this tree before, at least once in each season, but to me it has such a strong presence in that empty field it was worth another attempt. No doubt there will be more if I can catch it framed by a more dynamic sky:
That does it for January. I have no idea what February will bring, hopefully a more sane work schedule and more outings.
Cheers!
