By Kevin Donoghue

Why HELLO there winter storm NEMO! (Seriously…naming snow storms now???) Anyway, photographing snow. Although very pretty, (and for some, nice to look at from the warmth of their living room) snow is one of the most difficult scenes to photograph. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a photographers nightmare, but it is definitely a challenge.

A challenge I was eager and ready for!

With NEMO’s generous gift of 12” of wet clingy snow this past weekend, my neck of the woods (Finger Lakes NY), was covered in a beautiful winter wonderland!

I LOVE winter and had to grab my gear and explore! (How many times do you hear someone say "I love winter"?)

It was late afternoon and the sun sets around 5:15 this time of year. I have an old mill next to a bustling creek near my house with, what I call, character. I also found an old train sitting on the tracks nearby that caught my eye. I liked how the railroad tracks can still be seen under the snow by the shadows they created. It leads your eye right down the line to a few sitting boxcars. I noticed the sun was peeking in and out. I needed to be patient. (Pictures 2,3 and 4) My patience paid off.

On my way back from photographing the boxcars, I noticed the sun peeking through the clouds at the crossing gates. I exposed for that light. (Picture 6) The light draws your eye right to it.

In pictures 7 , 8, 9 and 10,  I created multiple layers in Photoshop and rendered lighting to give more of a dramatic moon-filled night feeling.  I like the end result. I may post one that does not have the moon- filled night feeling, so you can see the difference.

In Picture 11 I created a few layers in Photoshop and altered colors (obviously) using Channel Mixers. Since the overall scene was white it was ideal for this surreal effect. Not sure how I feel about it. It may grow on me.

The snow has now melted and is nothing but a memory, or a timeless picture. Hmm. . . deep thought.

Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did creating them.

I plan on posting more pictures and blog on a regular basis.  Please keep in mind, being a father/husband/ employee takes up most of my time.

Regards,

Kevin