Figure 1 – Spike in the snow, Nine Acres, Concord, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

It is always fun after a fresh snow to poke around and see what kind of interesting geometrics you can find. I especially love the patterns that blowing wind makes on fresh pliable snow.The key is the intense contrasts broken by little bits of plants poking free. On Sunday I came upon the spike in the snow shown in Figure1. The spike was there to hold cords that helped a young specimen sapling survive the relentless onslaught of wind. I was intrigued by the starkness of the white contrasted with the red of the rusty spike as well as the perfectly straight line of the cord contrasted with the curve of its shadow. And, of course, the fundamental minimalism of the composition appeals to me.

There is always the question with soundscapes in color as to how to deal with the blue. It is a real physical phenomenon but your eye tends to correct for it. Here I decided to leave it. Surprisingly, my preferred exposure called for no exposure compensation. Usually you have to over expose to get the snow properly white.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 94 mm, ISO 200, Aperture priority AE Mode 1/800th sec at f/10 with no exposure compensation.