Whatever the Weather…
When I think winter shots in New England, I always think fresh snowfall, dramatic skies, and muted light on scenes of classic New England culture and charm. While these things aren’t always possible to capture, I often have to remind myself that there’s usually some scene worth shooting, whatever the weather that you are presented with.
Rainfall, try waterfalls. High winds, try some long exposure. Fog, moody forest shots. Overcast, how about macro. Recently, we’ve had an unusual set of challenges when shooting. Despite the cold, we’ve not seen a fresh snowfall in New England in some time. So this weekend, I focused on ice…and we have lots of that.
Streams, usually pillowed with snow, show the exquisite detail of their frozen flow.
Lakes freeze more uniformly, but have their own personality traits in how they show the stress and strain of the expansion of frozen water. Squam was a plate of glass, while Winnipesaukee, larger and more prone to wind, and more expanse to compress, was a bit more cracked and rutted.
Sunday morning after shooting the mountains I caught a great sunrise on the big lake. Focusing on the foreground, I found this ice fishing hole a nice anchor for the scene. It was covered in three inches of new ice, and the total ice thickness is probably between 18”-24”. Impressive.
I can’t say I’ve seen the ice on lakes this reflective for this long, this late in winter, but if I were a photographer in New England with time this week, I’d be shooting the ice every sunrise and sunset. I’ll try to get back there myself.
And maybe it’ll snow sometime…
