New England's Fleeting Winter Wonderland

Partridge Brook Coating

Last week I awoke one morning to discover that overnight a dusting of snow had left a coating of white on the ground and trees.  It wasn’t much, but as I looked out of the window, I was aware of two important things.  First, the “storm” had resulted in a lovely frosting of the bare November branches. Secondly, the temperature was 38 degrees, meaning that all that beautiful snow would soon be falling from the trees.

I have previously discussed the importance of capturing winter storms while the snow is still sticking to the branches. We call this the “winter wonderland” time. The snow-covered landscape is always beautiful, but the magic of winter scenes is always best captured with the fresh frosting.

On Tuesday morning, with the temperature above freezing, I knew that the snow would soon be falling from the branches.  It wasn’t the most beautiful storm, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to contrast winter wonderland with the ordinary bare branch aftermath.

I knew that I didn’t have much time, so I headed out toward Westmoreland among the pastures that lie below Spofford Village.  The snow was already dropping, but I was able to capture a bit of the “wonderland” along Partridge Brook.  Further downstream, I used an old pasture bridge and snow bound farm equipment as foregrounds.  One of my favorite barns was also nearby.  I wanted to return to the locations later in the day, so I stomped rough markers in to the snow and then headed home for breakfast.

Before and After

I was back just a couple of hours later.  The winter wonderland was gone, and I set about grabbing my comparison images.  My views weren’t perfectly matched, but I think the point was made.  It is amazing how just a few hours can change the feel of a scene.

After the Drop

Location Location Location

On Hurricane Road

Not only time, but location can affect what we see.  After all, this IS New England, and the variable conditions is one thing that make makes our photography so dynamic.  After capturing my “Un-Wonderland” images, I headed in to Keene by way of Hurricane Road.  This road travels over a hill and with the elevation returned the winter wonderland coating.  The snow was coming off the trees in large clumps, but I was still able to catch a touch more magic before descending to the nearly snowless Keene Central Square.

Falling Clumps, Hurricane Road, Keene New Hampshire

Waiting for Snow, Keene's Central Square

This is what I love about New England. If you know what to look for, in just a few hours or a few miles, you can experience a wide variety of landscapes and weather.  Our “wait a minute” weather is just one of the special treasures of New England photography. 

Jeffrey Newcomer

www.partridgebrookreflections.com

First Snow, Capturing the “Winter Wonderland” Moment

Prospect Hill Westmoreland, NH

It was only a couple of inches, not even enough to fire up the snow blower, but the first accumulating snow of the season is always special.  Even if it melts away the next day, the first coating of white marks, a symbolic end of the dark, gray "stick season".  

   

November Stick Season

Ashuelot Covered Bridge

I always welcome the calm of November.  After the garish colors have fallen from the trees, it is a time to catch up on the editing of all those amazing foliage images.  Additionally, this year, I have work to do on the several thousand pictures from our wonderful trip to Italy.  Stick season also provides an opportunity to work on holiday orders and prepare for my up-coming classes and workshops, but, it is possible to find interesting things to shoot.  The oak and beech leaves continue to hang on, and the bare branches create a sense of peace before winter's rage.  Accepting all of this, when November fades into December, it feels like it is time for the white.

First Snow

Last weekend, we finally got our first snow, and I was ready.  The first dusting came Saturday afternoon.  I love capturing the first flakes, as they salt the dark earth.  Before the snow totally obscures the soil and fallen leaves, an intricate texture can be seen on the ground and on the newly formed pond ice.  Knowing what is to come makes the delicate scene even more affecting.

Through the night the snow fell, occasionally heavily, but only accumulated 2-3 inches.  It was warm enough for the snow to stick to the trees and the morning dawned cold with calm allowing the snow to stay on the branches for at least a couple of hours.

Winter Wonderland

I got out as early as I could in an attempt to catch the season's first "Winter Wonderland" time, when the fresh snow still coats houses, barns and trees.  The difficult question, as always, was which direction to travel.  On Sunday morning, I headed north, along Route 63, through Westmoreland and Walpole.  My goal was to try to keep ahead of the melting, and I was able to capture a couple of hours of at least a little Winter Wonderland.

It felt as if we are truly embedded in the winter season.  On Tuesday we enjoyed another, more substantial, storm.  The snow from this one came down during the daylight, and I had a great time chasing scenes of active "Winter Wonderland".  This time I headed out to Vermont, spending most of my time exploring the back roads of Dummerston.  The roads were slippery, but the snow added softness and depth to the beautiful New England scenery.  Against the snowy back-drop, I was able to isolate a yellow tree, a lonely swing and a dog howling into the storm.  It was a wonderful time to enjoy the weather.

The Perfect Tree 

Snowless Tree

I ended the day by running back to Keene to capture the fresh snow on the Central Square Christmas tree.  This is one of the best trees I have seen in years.  It is large, full, and the squirrels hadn’t (yet) chewed the wires on the lights.  A couple of nights earlier, I had captured some nice pictures of the square.  Everything was perfect, except for the unfortunate fact that the tree had no snow.  Early Tuesday night, the weather was varying between snow, sleet and rain, but there was still snow on the branches, and I had to make another try.  I kept my camera covered with a towel except when unveiling the lens for a shot.  The results were classic winter wonderland lights.  

Perfect Coat

In the Dark

It was a great storm, except that when I got home I found that the heavy snow had brought a tree down on the wires near my home and snapped a couple of telephone poles.  This is rural New England and we are prepared for power outages, but the frustrating thing was that I couldn’t start working on all the great images that were languishing within my camera.  

Over the years, we have experienced many power outages, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to watch the crews work to repair the damage.  I took all night and I can only say that I hope that the families of the repairmen appreciate the great work that is done by their men.

 There is much more winter to come, and it won’t be long before we will begin yearning for the first warm breezes and fresh buds of spring, but, for now there is nothing that feels quite as fresh and exciting as the first tastes of white and the amazing New England Winter Wonderlands.

Happy Holidays

Jeffrey Newcomer

partridgebrookreflections.com

An April Day of Winter

Often after a season ends I will do a retrospective blog article celebrating some of the best images of the season. As I think back on this last winter, I realized that, for me at least, it was a one day season, and that one day was in April.




A Christmas Stroll

My recollections of winter 2015-16 include walking about the village in shirt-sleeves on Christmas Day, and then various dustings of snow and variable periods of cold. I admit I was gloriously absent from New England in late January, for a two week tour throughout Costa Rica, but I don't believe the region suffered any major blizzards in my absence. Sadly, for this year, my usual collection of crystal brilliant winter scenes is largely empty.





Window on the Storm

 It isn't that we totally lacked frozen precipitation. This winter, weather records show that we had about two feet less snow than average, but that was only about 30% less than usual. The problem was that the snow came in scattered dustings that seldom accumulated to a depth which could be characterized as a photographic "Winter Wonderland". 
 




Roads End Wall

By early April I had abandoned hope and switched to Spring anticipation mode, but then on April 4th a storm blew through and gave me my one brief taste of winter. It was just for a few hours and by the end only about 3-4 inches had accumulated, but I was able to get out and grab a few precious images of my only real winter storm of the season.

　














Tree in the Storm

Knowing that the blowing precipitation would only last a short time I headed out to my favorite nearby locations. I cruised the high pastures along Route 63 as it passes through Chesterfield Village, and struggled through the brush to capture the lone border tree nearly lost in the blowing snow. I moved along the pasture's edge to include the leading line of the wire fence. Falling snow always offers opportunities to highlight depth such as in the image looking down the tree-lined path to the distant barn. And of course I had to swing by my favorite local farm, Roads End.

 





　





Pointillism Barn

I love the way differences in shutter speed can affect the feel of images of falling snow and have discussed the topic in a previous article. During this surprise April storm I had plenty of opportunities to sample the various moods of the falling snow. Images with a longer shutter highlighted the angry blowing streaks of snow, while shorter shutter speeds froze the flakes creating a softer feel suggesting the pointillism of Georges Seurat.



Spring Storm

　




Main Street Storm

I was only out for a couple of hours before the snow faded away, but it was amazing how many different impressions were possible with just a spin of the camera dial. And then it was over. The warm April sun dissolved the scant cover in a couple of days and, although I never captured my "Winter Wonderland" shot, I'm still happy that I salvaged this one day before the "winter that wasn't" melted to a merciful end.

　



Now the buds are beginning to pop and I'm ready for spring.



Woodpile Spring, Hubner Farm, Chesterfield, NH

Jeffrey Newcomer
partridgebrookreflections.com

Working with the Light (Part 2)

It's Not Nice to try to Fool Mother Nature.

One of the key skills contributing to successful landscape photography is the ability to work with the prevailing light and not to try to force your images against what nature provides. Last week I shared a few thoughts on the subjects and techniques which work well with the beautiful Golden Hours and also on how to salvage quality images from the challenging bright midday sun. This week I cover approaches to some of my favorite "lights", overcast, fog and weather extremes. As always the key is to recognize the conditions and work within the opportunities and limitations that they provide.

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Overcast Light
 

Enveloping Light

The rest of the non-photographer world thinks that overcast days place a dull blanket over the natural beauty of the landscape, but I love to shoot when the sky is gray. In many ways this light has opposite effects from those on brilliant sunny days. Overcast light is soft and diffuse with the sky serving as one giant soft box. The light wraps around subjects working especially well for portraits and macros and the rich color of flowers and foliage can shine through without the reflections caused by harsh directional light.




 



Sleep In!

Soft Forest Green

Overcast robs us of the opportunity to shoot the golden hours, but on the plus side, we don't have to wait for sunrise or sunset, since the advantages of overcast light extend throughout the day.  You can sleep late, have a nice breakfast and then wander out to leisurely seize the day.

Overcast is Great for Waterfalls

Hide the Sky?

Oppressive Sky

One major disadvantage of overcast is that the skys are often flat and uninteresting.  The simplest solution is to avoid shooting the sky and focus on the colors and detail of the landscape.  

Focus on the Foreground

Show little if any of the flat gray overhead.  But the sky doesn't always need to be completely avoided. Proper exposure of the dark landscape can result in overexposing the sky and "blowing out" any detail, but current digital editing tools and high dynamic range techniques can salvage interesting detail in the clouds. When I'm able to bring out the drama and ominousness of the clouds I feel I no longer need to crop them out of the image. 

• Reclaiming the Sky

Dramatic Sky Revealed

 
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Fog and Mist  


First an entirely worthless answer to a question you didn't ask. What is the difference between fog and mist? Actually they are both essentially clouds which have come down to earth, but the difference has to do with how far you can see through the cloud. Fog is thicker, limiting visibility to one km or less, while you can see through mist for 1-2 km. Who decided this? Obviously NOT an American. How far is a km anyway?


 

Fog and mist are both bounteous gifts for photographers. Nothing gets me out of the house as fast as when I see the fog settle in. To the benefits of soft overcast light, they add a sense of depth and drama,  and turn bright colors to subtle pastels

Clear Foreground Depth

Clear Foreground

Misty Blanket

The key to the impact of fog and mist is to find situations with depth that can be effectively portrayed and the essential key to that portrayal is to have something interesting in the foreground that can appear relatively clear and sharp compared to the distant fog enshrouded background. Images with flat fog uniformly clouding the entire image may provide a touch of mystery but they suppress rather than enhance the feeling of depth.

Misty Depth

For maximum effect the sharp foreground elements are best placed off to one side. The rule of thirds still applies, but in rare situations, such as my image of the distant  house floating above a beach in Nova Scotia, the relationship between clear foreground and soft background can be effectively reversed.

Floating, Nova Scotia

See the Light

Seeing the Light

Fog and mist don't always occur under densely overcast skys and when the sun shines through, it makes the light dramatically palpable. To catch the brightest rays of light it is usually best to angle your view toward, but not directly into the light. The rays of light may only last for a few minutes as the fog lifts, but during that time you can find some magical images. It is well worth the wait.

• In the Fog

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Extremes of Weather
Photographers love bad weather. Whether it is howling blizzards, pelting rain or towering thunder clouds, bad weather provides many of the most dramatic and dynamic opportunities for photography. 

Lightning Light

 


Much like the effects of fog, rain and snow provide the opportunity to demonstrate a feeling of depth and the importance of clear and interesting foreground elements is similar. The difference comes from the fact that fog and mist create a soft welcoming feel while extreme precipitation should make the viewer shout, "I'm glad I'm not there!" Unfortunately, you ARE there and so special attention to the protection of your equipment is required. 

Soft Snow

Shutter Speed 
Shutter speed can have a strong effect on the mood of images of precipitation.  With snow, a slow shutter reveals streaks that emphasize the storm's ferocity while a quick exposure catches the individual flakes as soft points of light, suggesting a more peaceful scene.

Snow Streaks

• Photographing Falling Snow
• Surviving the Wet

Gentle Rain, Cape Porpoise, Maine

Finding the Weather
It doesn't take a meteorologist to recognize when a storm is overhead or that thunder storms tend to move from west to east, and  to help the planning, there is an endless supply of weather apps for our iPhones or Androids. The challenge is to figure out when and where to get out into the maelstrom. 

Storm Over Monadnock

Often the best light occurs just before or after the storm strikes. Some years ago I ran out from work just after a thunderstorm past and chased it to the top of a hill east of Keene New Hampshire. I was rewarded by one of my favorite views of a storm breaking over the top of Mount Monadnock.

After The Storm

On another early morning I was able to catch the clouds breaking up in the dawn light after a heavy snow storm had just passed.







Perhaps the most impressive "after weather" events are the rainbows that appear when the sun breaks through low in the evening sky and bounces off the interiors of the fleeting raindrops. The point is that poking around the edges of weather can be even more rewarding than being immersed in the storm.

Town Hall Rainbow, Chesterfield, New Hampshire

Protect the Equipment

So protect your equipment and chase after that wonderful miserable weather that nature generously provides.

 















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Celestial Light

Dublin Lake

 
Of course I have left out one important type of light, the lack of it. Night photography has expanded with the rapidly improving capabilities of digital photography and it is a topic deserving of its own discussion. In fact I have written a number of articles as I have learned about exploring the depths of our milky way and the drama of or own satellite.

• Night time Photography
• Star Track Photography
• Look to the Foreground in Milky Way Photography 
• Exploring the Night Sky
• Photographing Comet Panstarrs

Overcast, fog, bright overhead sunlight, extremes of weather and the night sky all offer their own attractions. It is the glory of shooting in New England that we can often experience many or all of them in the same day. In New England there is never a bad time to go out shooting as long as you accept the challenge of embracing what nature provides.


Jeffrey Newcomer
partridgebrookreflections.com
603-363-8338