Snow Day 3 – Night and Day
I was scheduled to have a bunch of meeting in the West End (London) but the heaviest snow in over 30 years has now turned into the heaviest ice in 30 years and is causing even more travel havoc. So instead I stayed home and again ventured out into the snow, only this time I had the sunshine I had so wished for. I even managed to get some great blue highlights in the sky long after the sun had set. The shots today are certainly a lot more cheerful.
Even though we are forecast to have the coldest night so far, I’d like just a little more snow overnight, I could do with one more day of fresh snow. Then let it melt away, I’m ready for spring.
We'll start today with a couple of images from my neighbourhood playground. Notice how the rust from the railings reflects red in the snow. I didn't see that until I got the image off the camera and onto the computer screen. Sometimes the camera picks up things the eye doesn't.
I hadn't photographed the playground before, I considered it boring. The snow made me look at my surroundings like I never had before. I suppose these aren't really snow photos as much as just photos of my local area, which until now I had considered to be fairly boring.
Telegraph pole with gravity-defying snow. This was taken during the day.
This is that same telegraph pole, taken after dark. Notice how the light of the sky could almost be daylight, but the yellow colour cast by the streetlight gives it away.
A peculiar place to keep one's boots, perched atop a snowman.
I convinced my sister to come out and do some dancing in the snow. I shot with a speedlight from the right to balance out the sunlight, which was coming from the left. She wore her point shoes and we threw together the styling in a couple of minutes and ran out into the snow. She froze half to death but did a great job nonetheless.
Walking back from the shoot.
This is what I was talking about - the snow becomes breathtakingly beautiful as soon as there's a bit of sun.
Nighttime crept in to give us interesting light. Even with a manual white balance reading, I still found that the image improved if I took some of the blue out. I guess it has something to do with the way the snow reflects and refracts light.
Check out the blue in the sky. You can't see it with the naked eye, but at a relatively low shutter speed and high ISO, you get amazing detail. This was taken handheld.
Last image for today - these traffic thingies just don't give up.
If you liked this, you might want to have a look at my portfolio.
Snow day 2
I walked for a couple of hours in the snow today. I was looking for something that would suit a fashionish shoot and realized a couple of things in the process.
Snow, to look real killer, has got to be photographed in combination with the sun. There’s no hope while it’s still snowing, because the sky is so grey and drab. I just about got away with it under the canopy of the trees, but I fear the only real result will come when there’s a clear, bright day. I hope the snow sticks around for that day!
If you didn’t see the previous post, it’s here
Roads are a popular subject. Luckily the brown slush didn't show up so much. The light under a canopy of trees is acceptable.
Likewise, some framing will make or break a photo. I love old victorian architecture like this.
The only sensible (or not) way to get around, he was having a blast and even offered to pose for pictures. I declined the offer.
Check Mate Mini with a hat!
If I can make it, I’ll be in London tomorrow, let’s see what that brings.
Midnight Snow / Night-Vision
It’s not all about exotic locations and fashion (see previous blog posts), today at around 10pm it started snowing heavily. I threw on some layers and ventured into the (almost) untouched snow.
Modern Camera technology blows my mind, I did use a tripod but none of these shots really needed it. Snow is like no other lighting condition. The sky is lit up somehow, I suppose snow is the ultimate diffuser. These shots were taken 15 minutes before midnight, they seem to have some weird light sources.
I love the way the streetlights really glow, they are amplified by the snow falling around them. At the top left there's a red glow, that's from the centre of my town, I guess they use very warm lights there.
The lines of the cars, they make my eyes follow the road. In this country you can stand in the middle of the road in a snowstorm, no-one dares to get in their car to drive.
You just walk, with an umbrella.
Where is all this light coming from. Everything is lit up, from the streetlights and the light pollution from my local town. I love the 'spread of light'. If you wanted this much light on the trees, the bridge the sky, you'd have major issues with blow-out from the street lamps, but snow makes it somehow work.
And if you get up close, the details come out just right.
Fashion is the first victim when the weather turns 'bad'. She borrowed an old warm turquoise raincoat, wore tracksuit bottoms and furry boots, a mumble-jumble of an outfit, but who cares, you can sit in the middle of the road without a care in the world.
Tomorrow I’m gonna see if I can shoot something fashion oriented. Have to find a suitable model who’s happy to freeze for the sake of the art.
Huasteca – 1964 Chevrolet
Huasteca is a mountainous desert-type area just outside the city of Monterrey in Northern Mexico. It was probably one of my favorite shoots ever.
The production was largely done by the model, we arranged the car, the location – it was a dream combination. We picked out the jewellery to match the Azur Chevy and the clothes to fit the location after having scouted it on the day I arrived to Mexico.
Caribbean Rocks
We shot this in the breakwater rocks off a deserted little Island in Glovers Reef, Belize.
The model is doing a priceless job here. You’d never guess that the rocks she’s balancing on are not the soft, smooth pebbles they are pretending to be, oh no, they are ragged, hard, spiky rocks, working their way slowly but surely into the skin of my client!
Gnarly
Something a little different. I figured you are getting a bit too used to looking at portraits I’m posting here, so instead you get a tree. A nice gnarly tree, in it’s full black and white glory.
We are anchored near a Belizean ‘City’ named Dangriga. As far as I can tell it’s the 2nd largest town in the region. I went ashore briefly to see what the deal is. As you’d expect for a small Caribbean town, there’s not much drama or excitement, just lots of sand, sea and palm trees.
Snapshot – somewhere between Auckland and Sydney
This March I had the pleasure of being upgraded to first class in return for Quantas rerouting us via Auckland. It didn’t take much for the airline to ‘convince’ us to accept the terrible hardship of flying via New Zealand in exchange for a full flat bed on the way from LA to Sydney. We were at Auckland airport for a couple of hours and I was snapping away during the sunrise, the light in the southern hemisphere is so different. This shot came form the plane. Something about the way the light came through the aircraft’s window, the time of day and the angle of the sun created these beautiful hues.
Snapshot – Curvy Portugal
From the Island of Armona off the south coast of Portugal. I took this after a portrait session on the beach.
Full disclosure: This is an HDR image.