Endless Winter
This blog is late for a lot of reasons.
First, this has to have been the longest winter in ages. I’ll admit I was getting tired of winter pictures and was looking forward to birds returning and a little greenery. We thought winter was over, the flood waters had peaked, and the river was clear of ice. But then we had a massive “Colorado low” snowstorm. I had to shovel three times in two days, just to stay ahead of it. A friend told me he went skiing along the river after the storm, and in the river was a paddleboarder, and a canoeist. I swear, only in Winnipeg…!
Anyway, that started to melt, but the next week we got hit with another storm, this time a dump of rain — on frozen ground, so there was nowhere for it to go — except into my nice newly renovated basement! — followed by sleet and more snow. And apparently coming this weekend…yet another storm!
Second, I finally came down with Covid, which knocked me down for a few days and over a weekend. I’ve only recently tested negative again.
Third…was there a third? I can’t remember. That’s enough excuses anyway. Hopefully that will be the end of winter photography for a while.
I should mention there’s a lot of black and white in this one, because it’s mostly about lines, shapes, and textures.
We might as well start by following the weather. This was a late afternoon when we still had deep snow. I managed to find a slight rise in the land, just enough to give separation between the foreground, mid, and backgrounds:
The snow began to melt, leaving wide random patches in the fields, and the skies started to get that “summer feel”. But down near the sheltered stream banks, the drifts were still deep:
It might not look like it, but the snow is up to my hips. It took me about half an hour just to wiggle my way a few hundred metres, and I was ridiculously sore all over the next day.
Meanwhile, in some spots the melt provided wonderful reflections. This is a bit “busy”, but I think the general shape is clear:
When the rain and sleet arrived, it turned whole forests into pools of slush, like a woodland Slurpee:
And the river, which had become ice-free, threatened to regrow its wintry skin:
But amongst all that was still life and hope. These rose hips seem to have survived nicely under the snow, un-nibbled:
They seem rather chipper to me. And who would do the nibbling? Maybe these Cedar Waxwings? A giant flock settled in near me, this is not even 1/10th of them:
Small groups would descend to the ground, feasting on who-knows-what. They’re small and move quickly and I didn’t dare get much closer, but I did manage to catch these on the ascent:
Or maybe the nibblers were these deer, who kept a wary eye on me as I hiked from one side of the field to the other:
The above shot isn’t that interesting, though I do like their little faces, but it’s more to set up the next one. Unfortunately it was a rough year, much colder than usual, and not all of them made it. Fair warning: I promise the next image isn’t “gross”, but it might be chilling. My sister and I were hiking and came across this casualty. I returned the next day with the camera, not even sure I wanted to make anything of it. But here it is for your judgement:
It’s a bit of an abstract. The thought process was using the fallen logs in the background as a mirror of the life and death cycle. The leg is tack sharp to represent how recent it is, the implication being it will fade over time like the branches behind it.
Of course, that’s all very ponderous and pedantic overthinking 🤔😉
Since we’ve arrived in “abstract country”, I’ll finish off with the next three. There is a funky old farm machine in Bird’s Hill Park at one of the historic sites, and depending on the light it can contain a wealth of subjects. This is just simply a study in balancing geometry, with a bonus of “rust detail” which I thought looked kind of nifty:
Next, a chain running under the machine:
And finally, probably my favourite of this bunch, a poplar leaf fallen against the galvanized metal, and the metal contains some kind of floral imprint:
One could easily think it had been staged, but it’s just how I found it.
And that wraps up a very turbulent month-and-a-half. Hopefully the next will be birds-birds-birds…the migration patterns seem to be quite a bit behind, and when they do arrive I’m sure they’ll be making the most of it.
Until then, take care! 🙂
