With the trees bare and the landscape dormant, Winter has always been my toughest season for photography. Fortunately, winters in Arkansas are usually relatively short lived, and our real threat of winter weather is usually between mid-January to early March. However, during those brief few weeks, winter weather usually means sleet and, more concerning, freezing rain. Concerns about slick roads, frozen pipes, and power outages can quickly take away any motivation for photography.
But, every so often, things come together just right to create some wonderful photographic opportunities. And, that’s exactly what happened in January.
Weather forecasters had been predicting an ice event with accumulations of up to one-half inch in Central Arkansas. When the big day finally arrived, though, it quite fortunately didn’t quite meet the forecasters’ expectations. Roads weren’t terribly slick (although I didn’t venture out on them), and power was never lost.
While the winter weather didn’t cause the predicted cataclysm, it did coat all the tree limbs and any remaining vegetation with a light layer of ice. The result was an incredible winter wonderland. Naturally, I felt compelled to find something to photograph, so I grabbed my camera, attached my 24-105mm lens, which I rarely use, and headed outside.
I walked around my backyard for several minutes, but I just couldn’t find anything that moved me to photograph it. As I got colder and colder, my motivation began to quickly wane, and I decided to pack it in for a while and go back inside. As I turned to make my way to the house, I caught a quick glimpse of this scene in my neighbors’ yard, and I was immediately in awe of the contrast between the dark tree trunks and the glistening ice on the limbs and branches.
I set up my tripod and composed the image. My original idea was to photograph just the ice-covered trees, so I angled the camera to eliminate the fence and fallen tree along the bottom of the frame because they did not align with the vision I had in my mind of what I wanted.
But, as I studied the composition on the back of the camera, I found I wasn’t as enamored with it as I thought I would be. Then, I had one of those “what if” moments that I so often tend to ignore: what if I included the fallen tree and the fence? How would that look?
I quickly tilted the camera downward until the fence line and tree were just inside the frame. Angling the camera any lower would have included more of the ground, and the ground really did not add anything to the image. Satisfied with what I saw, I pressed the shutter button and captured this photograph of a beautiful winter scene.
Processing the file was limited to tweaking contrast and reducing color saturation. I had considered converting the file to black and white, but I decided the very soft colors were nicer. The day was dark and dreary, and that was exactly what the camera captured. But, when I looked at the file on my computer, I felt like it should be brighter and happier. So, I increased the exposure to brighten the image to get to this final photograph of a Winter Wonderland.