Looks like I caught the perfect weather yesterday for my first foray into winter photography. Today the sky is a milky gray monochrome filled with a constant supply of snow, now light, now heavy, subject to the whimsies of the lake effect. But yesterday was magical, a day of contrasts–of fantastic cloudscapes, resonant, deep blue skies, dancing snowflakes, and vanilla-colored curtains of distant snow showers gleaming in the slanting sun.
I’m not going to say much more about it. Instead, I’m going to let a few pictures tell the story. These were all shot southwest of Hastings, Michigan, near the Barry State Game Area.
Cloudscape — I’m captivated by the expressiveness of the clouds. And I love how they seem to follow the contours of the treeline like a penumbra.
Linescape — Winter strips the landscape down to its fundamental geometry, to tapestries of lines and angles. I’m so pleased with how this shot turned out. Not bad for a greenhorn, I think.
Transfiguration — The stump to the right of the backlit tree makes me think of Moses before the burning bush.
Old Drive — The Barry State Game Area is punctuated with the relics of old homesteads and farms that couldn”t quite make it in the sandy soil. I’m sure a house once stood here. All that’s left is the drive leading past the trees into an empty field.
