I know you might be thinking they are the only photos of Christmas 2007, but of course, I've got
a million party and other photos. This one ran on Christmas day. It's something I ran into in Winchester that afternoon.
This one I found when doing some research on the Medford train
disaster. I was walking the tracks looking for the site of the trains impacting the buildings and I came across this scene.
Happy holidays, Merry Christmas and peace, um, unlike the sign above.
First up, from the, "we meant to tell you that before you signed the lease...," department, we have the critical
roof design failure. This house has a wrap-around deck on the upper floor. That would be great, except it acts as a snow platform
for the natural funnel of the roof. So when you get, say, two feet of snow in a week, the roof is overwhelmed. More aptly,
the gutters are overwhelmed. That much standing snow, ice and water was enough to either cause leakage or threaten it.
Passing by one day, I notice a ladder and stop to watch. There is a work-crew shoveling the roof and the deck.
This would be a little funny until you realize that they are going to have to do this after every storm. Either the landlord
or the tenant (or both) must be furious at this turn of events.
Now for a photo that I personally enjoy a great deal. When I'm just shooting for myself, I try a lot of expressive
experiments. In this one, I really wanted to capture the depth of a big snowstorm in a hard winter. This is what I got:
First, the snow. What your eye can do during a snowstorm is nothing short of amazing. You can perceive a massive
number of snowflakes, near and far. Things are not so easy with a camera due to depth of field. The more things in focus,
the longer the exposure and less likely you will get snowflakes - you'll get snow trails instead. Still nice, a totally difference
effect.
In this case, you can see the zone of focus. It runs from about the second post from the bottom to a point
about halfway back on the garage. In this area, snowflakes show up as sharp white dots. Closer to the camera and the dots
expand into blobs. Further from the camera they are not all that visible.
In a lot of snowfall pictures, there is a constant palette of white. In this photo, we have a lot of dark
brown to provide contrast so we can really see the snow. It provides some dimension to the photo.
This is the obvious snow technique. Here's an accidental capture of the same thing under a table. This was
a very tough shot to frame and I didn't like it much in the end. I was going for the color contrast and idiosyncracy of the...oh
never mind, you don't want to hear that drivel anyway.
I could see the snowfall in front of the table, but I didn't realize it would be as prominent in the shot
as it was. When I got this up in Lightroom I was pleasantly surprised. And that brings us to the last falling snow trick.
If I may now direct your attention back to the prior photograph. In the middle right side of the photo, the
falling snow is also visible in front of the accumulated snow on the ground because it is lighter than the snow. While this
is the same trick as the photo on the right, it works in a totally different way. You perceive the snow under the table to
be in shadow. The snow in the above photo is much brighter. This is also a little trick, but completely unintentional. There
is a large house just out of the shot to the right. Thus, this little patch of snowfall on the right side of the picture is
actually sandwiched between a house and a garage. The snowflakes showing up in front of it are in generally elevated and brighter.
It's neat. I did not expect it and am now craftily wondering how I can use it as a creative device.
Moving right along, the second thing I like is how you can see the layers of snow on top of the garage. This
is not the first snowfall - it's the latest one.
Finally, I like the yellow fence in the background and the piles of snow beside it for the same reason. It's
obviously a driveway and there's already been a lot of shoveling done. Time for more.
It all says healthy, hearty, if not a little severe, winter. Enjoy.
