Figure 1 – Winter 2015, Leaves in the snow, Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA, (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – “Winter 2015 Leaves in the snow” is so far my favorite image of this grueling winter.  There is nothing that I like better than coming upon a scene where a beam of light accentuates.  In this case there is a sense of golden warmth contrasting with a cold blue-tinted winter snow.  I tend to think of winter in black and white, but sometimes, this being an example, it demands color.

Significantly the view is very small. To me it is like a Japanese garden, a miniaturized idyllic garden.  Japanese gardens have taught me to think of landscapes as fractal in nature.  They function equally on all scales, from sweeping vistas to perhaps a single plant or stone and everything in between..  The day itself, was warm in a winter sense and sunny; so I was actively in search for shadows and highlights. And here you have the additional contrast of the leaves of autumn against the snows of winter.

One complication when I took the photograph was that there was a breeze causing the leaves to move.  I cut back on the f-number and therefore depth of field so that I could decrease the exposure time.  I waited for an auspicious moment of near quiet and shot at f/8.0 at 1/800th sec.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM at 70 mm, ISO 400, Aperture-priority AE mode, 1/800th sec at f/8.0 with +1 exposure compensation.

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I think that for most New Englanders the start of winter brings on a sort of car neglect.  It does not seem of much use to wash one’s car since it is certain to become filthy again with the next snow fall.  So this morning I realized that my car was essentially encased in salt and decided to do something about it.  There I am sitting on the line for the car-wash, I have put my car in neutral, and am slowly being inched forward.  Then it hits me. Photo-op! Fortunately while i did not have my digital SLR with me, I did have my IPhone and so I began snapping images contentedly.  The results are the four images of the short slide show about, a few minutes journey into an impressionist worl.

Figure 1 – Primroses. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

To all my readers and friends in the Northern hemisphere, today is March the first.

Think spring!

And remember what Ophelia said to Laertes:

“Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.”

– Hamlet (1.3.48-52)

Figure 1 – Winter 2015, Photominimalism. Fresh Pond Reserve, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Even more than sand and seaweed snow provides the ultimate environment for photominimalism.  It is all about contrast, just short of pure black and pure white – a binary image.  Figure 1 shows one of my favorite subjects in this medium, a pure white, cold, and windy landscape broken only by some dried and intriguing plant forms.  These are the merest remnants of last summer and thus emphasize the sterile lifelessness of winter contrasted with the abundant life of spring and summer.  It provides a promise.

And what I have tried to accomplish here is to create the sense that the light is on the verge of overwhelming the scene and the image.  I take this from the book of J. M. W Turner (1775-1851).  Turner was referred to as “the painter of light,” and through his career the light slowly seized control and methodically overwhelmed the subject. We move now towards the vernal equinox towards the ascendance of the light.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 100 mm, ISO 400, Aperture-Priority AE mode, 1/500th sec at f/16.0, with +1 exposure compensation. Cold toned black and white image.

Figure 1 – Winter 2015 # 1, Sapling and squirrel trail on Little Fresh Pond, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Temps in the 30’s F yesterday; so it was time to clamp on my crampons and venture out into the wilderness of the Fresh Pond Reserve. Everything was absolutely gorgeous. It was enough to restore my faith in the glories of winter.

I happened upon a dead and frozen robin. I am not one to photograph dead and decaying things, this despite the Rembrandt tradition where a side of beef alludes to the crucifixion. It was a personal tragedy for that poor bird the night before, and I can empathize with that and the continuity of the natural world. So I took no photographs of it. I’ll leave that art form to others.

For the natural world winter is a testing ground, a major obstacle to be survived, an evolutionary challenge. Still when you survey the landscape you realize that first there is the pure beauty of the physical phenomena of cold, ice, and wind. You might as well be on a lifeless alien world. But, second you realize that it is a world alive. The signs of life are what challenges or contrasts with the desolation.

These are the thoughts that went into my first photograph of the afternoon. There was a little sapling struggling to survive on the shore of what is called “Little Fresh” pond. And winding away from this diminutive tree is a trail, made I suspect by a grey squirrel hopping through the snow. The squirrels are always busy in winter. Their lives are not like those of “Chip and Dale.” There is the constant searching for food, and food is essential to maintain body temperature against the snow. Again, I can empathize and, as a result, I do not begrudge these guys for relentlessly helping themselves to sunflower seeds from my bird feeder. They have to eat too!

But back to the photograph (Figure 1). As always underexpose by a stop. I love the simple geometric contrasts of snow patterns. I did this as a black and white. At the end I converted it to color again and tinted with a cold tone. Cold tone is not my usual choice. But it is appropriate for snow. Indeed I could have stayed in color mode from all the get go.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 70 mm, ISO 400, Aperture Priority – AE mode, 1/640^th sec at f/16.0 with +1 exposure compensation.