A drive blanketed in snow
A drive blanketed in snow
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cdhollingsworth
April 18, 2014
I'm ranked in the Top 10 most voted percentile in the Landscapes Photo Contest during week 1 -- keep it going :-)
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo of a snowy drive was taken near my home in Danville, Indiana.Time
I was out walking in the snowstorm the early part of January 2014 with my camera and looked to my side and saw this. It was mid-day yet there was absolutely no one on the roads due to the heavy blanket of snow and the still falling snow. Obviously someone had been out of this lonely drive because the tire tracks are visible.Lighting
The lighting was totally God-provided. Mid-day brightness but blanketed by the cloud-covered skies and reflected back from the snow-covered ground.Equipment
This was shot with a Canon EOS REBEL T3i. No flash, hand-held. f/4.0 ISO 100. 1/250.Inspiration
What struck me was how quiet everything was, and how intimate it made everything seem. I wanted to follow this "canyon" and see where it lead (even though I truly knew it was just a private drive back to a house).Editing
Post-processing was kept to a minimum. I work in Photoshop and adjusted the levels a little, but the photo is pretty much as I saw it that snowy day.In my camera bag
In my bag I carry a Canon EFS 18-55mm macro and a 55-250mm as my day-to-day lens. I always shoot with a lens hood and no flash. Due to the storm that day, I didn't carry my bag at all, but just went out with my camera to enjoy the solitary beauty.Feedback
My advice for new photographers is to not get too comfortable. While it's easy to shoot in the middle of the day in good weather where the walking is easy, the photos are better when you are off the beaten path, and looking for the uncommon. In the middle of that storm, I saw one vehicle pass me and they looked at me -- this person bundled to the eyebrows trudging along in the snowstorm carrying a camera like I was nuts. But being out there allowed me to see this incredible serene beauty before it was marred by time and travel. I always try to put myself into others' mind -- where does this road go? who made those tracks? why did they feel the need to drive out in the storm.... or were they trying to get home? Oddly enough the one thing that continues to strike me about this nearly pure black and white photo is the one little brown leaf in the lower left corner of the shot. It's OK to be an individual.