Texture and Color of Fresh Snow

[Tom Robbins]

Snow doesn't easily work as a subject of texture or color, but it's fun to try to make it do what it doesn't naturally do. I spent a couple hours hopping from one cold foot to the other while watching as the quality of available light changed, and the sun raced overhead.

The result was not worth the effort, but I can't wait to try again. No doubt, this point of view will change by late January or early February.

Tom

 

[Asher Kelman]

Snow doesn't easily work as a subject of texture or color, but it's fun to try to make it do what it doesn't naturally do. I spent a couple hours hopping from one cold foot to the other while watching as the quality of available light changed, and the sun raced overhead.

The result was not worth the effort, but I can't wait to try again. No doubt, this point of view will change by late January or early February.

Tom,

How wrong you are! The texture is fine enough for this composition. Just come and look at your work again, this has a touch,

.................just a touch of the physical eroticism of Edward Weston's shell pictures!

Asher

 

[Ken Tanaka]

The result was not worth the effort, but I can't wait to try again. No doubt, this point of view will change by late January or early February.

Tom

I also disagree with your assessment, Tom. I think your image has some very good attributes and you're heading in a positive path.

In my opinion, the most successful sand/snow images have these characteristics.

- They abstract the viewer from the nature of the material. That is, there are no clues that this is, say, snow and the material is not distracting.

- They present form compositions that tease the eye and evoke emotional response. Remember, the eye searches first for SHAPE. Your image has some of this happening in the lower right and across the top.

- They either abstract the viewer from scale -OR- they establish scale secondarily. If you'd not disclosed that this was a snow shot there would be few clues to scale. Imagine, for example, if a small spot in the upper right corner turned out to be a dune buggy.

Perhaps these thoughts will be useful to you. One last tip. On your next outing to shoot this kind of thing take FOUR additional frames adjacent to the one you initially shoot. Perhaps left or right, and perhaps turn the camera at an angle. That long upper line is somewhat of a visual bore,certainly compared to the more voluptuous lower lines and shapes. Establishing it more as a diagonal element would be a real plus.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Perhaps these thoughts will be useful to you. One last tip. On your next outing to shoot this kind of thing take FOUR additional frames adjacent to the one you initially shoot. Perhaps left or right, and perhaps turn the camera at an angle. That long upper line is somewhat of a visual bore,certainly compared to the more voluptuous lower lines and shapes. Establishing it more as a diagonal element would be a real plus.

Ken,

You are a store of great advice!

Here's yet another sentiment of yours that might apply to so many compositions and most certainly landscapes as here. It also fits in with my sense that we should plan wider shots and not be always so strict in framing. Seeing what might be possible if one didn't look at things in the way we usually do, is going to open our vision to more possibilities when we get home.

There's nothing holy about one's first choice! All art has cascades of such related choices and I see no reason why one shouldn't put everything up to challenge after the shoot. Without the extra adjacent material, that's not really possible! So thanks again for providing a suggestion that we can all consider next time we are setting up for that "perfect" shot!

Asher

 

[Tom Robbins]

Asher and Ken,

Thanks for the great comments. Your suggestions will accompany me into the drifts and trails at the next opportunity - thanks for them as well. I've got to admit that the voluptuous lines you both saw were not identified as such as I looked through the viewfinder. The lines appealed to me, but I was thinking texture and color, so maybe the reason for the appeal at the time was subliminal.

Tom