After a disappointing load of heavy, wet-cement snow, we got 8 inches of fluffy powder and I went right out with the camera. For a few hours we had my favorite winter light; the kind that is filtered by high, thin clouds. Usually it starts with heavier cloud cover and breaks up, but for a while it’s perfect, adding just a touch of texture and dimension to my favorite thing – winter minimalism!
First up is this cantilevered leaf that I couldn’t resist. Usually they lie flat as the others are, but this one was lifted just a bit and had enough strength and rigidity to hold some snow. The slight shadow underneath just knocks me out. You would have laughed to watch me position and reposition the tripod to try to eliminate other stuff behind and around this, while also showing that it wasn’t flat on the snow, but was instead stuck up and over.
I do a lot of this kind of thing, so I decided to pare this post down to just single leaves in snow. Interestingly, none are from the same trees. We have two kinds of oak and big tooth aspen. The real kicker with these is the dusting of snow on their tops. This is a white oak leaf and it’s getting a bit tattered. Oaks hang onto their leaves for a lot longer so are often the only ones that are available for this kind of thing. Maples, poplar, birch, ash and others drop early and completely in fall so you have to catch those early.
That’s why this big tooth aspen leaf was such a surprise. Usually these are the first to go and I love photographing them when I find them so beautifully placed. Once again, I moved the tripod a whole bunch and played with crops, flips and rotations in Lightroom before settling on this one –
Oh this is my catnip and you can’t come snowshoeing with me if you want to get anywhere. Funnily enough I thought I’d have to break trail for this outing, but mere seconds into my walk I met two people coming from the opposite direction and so I didn’t have to. That was nice. But eventually the clouds disappeared entirely and the light was too harsh so I headed back. Glad I got some time though since February would turn out to be unusually warm. Hopefully it cools down and we get some more fresh powder and I can get out again.
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