Anatomy of a Composition - What Lies Beneath

We miss so much. Real winter has come and gone though I’m certain we will see more of its handiwork. Colorado always has a few weather surprises up its sleeve, so snow may soon appear.

The Elk River shared a couple of beautiful weekends in late February and early March, finding a rhythm with it as the ice begins to thaw and let loose a wintery grip is a tenuous balance. The deep, fresh snow offers a sense of the unexplored, while inches worth of ice remind us that the cold weather has been here for a long time. The slower pace this year offered meant fewer opportunities to shoot in my favorite places, but some new locations were explored and they opened up some beautiful possibilities.

Finding this open patch of water, with piles of fresh snow surrounding it gave me the composition I was hoping for - bright light, wispy clouds, tall, green pines reaching towards the sky. A slower shutter speed, not quite a 1/4 of a second, highlights the motion of the water. I can shoot scenes like this all day, they bring incredible comfort.

April, 2021 - As always, thank you for joining me on this adventure.

For more thoughts on some of these images, head over to www.wordpress.com/alma175w  

What Lies Beneath - ISO 100 | F/9 | 1/6 sec. - Sony a7riv - Sony FE 1635GM

Five Image Vertical Panorama - Stitched together and edited in Lightroom and Photoshop - 60MB image