Winter Photography in the Snow

Would it surprise you if I said that I was going for a square image? Probably not. Hello everybody and welcome to the channel. Welcome back. So for anybody that's new to this channel, I love a square format. I love a one-to-one crop. It's been my aspect ratio of choice for quite some time now. I find it really helps simplify busy chaotic scenes. Now when I come out and make these videos, I never really know what I'm going to shoot and I never know what I'm going to talk about. But this morning, whilst ironing up this composition that I'm shooting now, I found myself being very, very intentional, very deliberate, and making minute adjustments to my framing and composition in order to capture the shot. And I believe the square aspect ratio has massively helped me make sense of the chaos behind me. Let me show you what I'm talking about. So the fact that there's been a dusting of snow has really helped transform the scene and bring out subjects that otherwise might not stand out necessarily as nice photogenic subjects. And the classic example is this rock and this tree, which I'm photographing now. And you know, it's chaotic. To the left of the rock and the tree, you have more trees. Obviously, we're in a woodland. But these trees to the left of the rock, they're very bold, very dominant, very strong. So they actually distract and pull the viewer away from what's important, which is the beautiful icing sugar-covered rock and tree. But I found what I had to do was probably walk back and forth, left and right, basically covering every square centimetre of this five by five metre box that I've put myself in to try and really finesse the composition. Because I found if I got too close, I'd bring in too many distractions from the left. If I got too far back, then the scene would be too compressed and it wouldn't quite work. And I did find that by making minute adjustments and spending about 15 minutes on the scene, on this one shot, I found it very beneficial. Actually quite therapeutic. Very nice to just lose yourself in a single shot. As well as eliminating distractions that pull away from the main subject, by moving left and right just by a couple of inches or a few feet, you dramatically change the relationship between the three subjects within the frame, which is the rock, the kind of fatter, twisty tree, and the tree in the background. That's very important. The relationship between the twisty, fat tree and the tree in the background makes a huge difference to the scene. If those are too far apart, the composition doesn't feel complete. That's what I felt. So finding the balance between key items in your frame, especially when in a busy environment, especially when dealing with intimate subjects, very important. There's no epic lights. There's no dramatic waterfall. It's a delicate scene. And for delicate scenes, you need, well, a delicate approach, I suppose. So yeah, my first image. And I'm very, well, I'll say very happy with it. I think I'm happy with it. I think it's all right. It just caught my eye and I thought it was well worth shooting as a simple, quiet winter woodland shot. So at the risk of sounding pretentious, cheesy, and or corny, I think the difference between a photograph or, you know, taking a photograph and making a photograph, the difference is being intentional with everything that you do. Not only composition, as I tried to demonstrate earlier, but, you know, for example, I saw the weather report today and I've intentionally come out, been very intentional with my location and trying to create nice images to capture the moment. It's also our job as photographers, not only to be intentional with every aspect of our photography, but also to notice things. Notice things that non-photographers might not notice. Not consciously, anyway. And that's what we have here. I'm actually quite excited by what I'm about to shoot. And once again, let me preface that by saying it might not be your taste, but this is my channel. And certainly part of 2021 is for me to shoot whatever the flip I want. Anyway, let's see, because this is kind of cool. Very much caught my attention. So the shot that I've seen is quite abstract. It's a shot that I don't think would work nor exist on any other day of the year, probably. And this whole morning, there's been no wind, which has been really nice. Until the second I find a shot that, if disturbed by the wind, will be just destroyed. So yeah, I'm gonna have to work quickly here. But essentially, we've got these beautiful fir trees, these evergreen branches, and they're kind of spread out like a hand. And all of the branches, they've caught the snow, but they're not caked in snow. Again, it's just that sprinkling. Now, this morning is absolutely terrible in terms of lighting. You know, we've got flat light, drab conditions, and good light gives you contrast. But we have no good light, we have no light, so the snow is giving us that contrast. Now, if this was light falling on these leaves, it would have a similar effect. But today it's snow. And it's abstract, it's minimal, it might not even be that good, I don't know. But it's a subject that caught my eye and made me want to investigate further. That's what I'm doing, and in my opinion, that's what photography is. I think that this may work very well as a monochrome image of black and white. And that's because of the lack of colour, the cool blue light that we have, in my opinion, the cool blue light and the dark green of the trees there doesn't do it for me. But the reason this works so well as a monochrome is not only because of the unattractive colour cast of the blue light and the green leaves, but it's the contrast. You know, we have a very deep, dark background, dark leaves, high contrast of the white snow. Yeah, beautiful depth as the forest, you know, extends, falls away into darkness. Love it, absolutely love it. And as usual, I'd love to know your comments in the comments section below. Cool, turning out to be quite a productive morning. Now, I know in my last video, or perhaps last couple of videos, I've been a bit, you know, a bit low, a bit, you know, puffing and puffing and having a moan. But I always say this, and it's true, and it was true in my last video, that when you actually do get out and just kind of get rid of all your pre-visualizations and expectations that you have on you as a photographer, when you just get out and just start wandering and exploring, those negative feelings, they do fade away. And before you know it, you're lost in a moment, photographing snow on leaves. So, if you, like me, are struggling through winter, and especially with COVID and all of the difficulties that that's bringing, and you're not feeling creative, you're not getting the light, you can't travel to beautiful locations, don't stay at home and let it beat you. Go out. I know it's muddy. I know it's wet. I know it's miserable. Use what you do have, okay? And just go out. And you'd be amazed at how your brain will switch. But just don't go out with any kind of pressure on yourself to create, you know? Because then, well, you won't exist. Trust me, for someone who knows, with a lot of pressure to create all the time, the harder you try, the more difficult it is, right? Anyway, that's enough waffle. I'll stick the image up and, seriously, let me know your thoughts of all the images. Your feedback, I do take on board. Here's the image. So, I hope you've enjoyed this video. I think it's just a bit of a short one today. But, yeah, right now, I'm feeling surprisingly positive, and I've had a really good morning. So, I just want to say thank you to everybody who sent kind messages, and to everybody who's watched my videos over the past year, or, in fact, well, as long as the channel's been going, really. And I'll say a big hello to the new subscribers as well. Everything's massively appreciated. And I think photography, outdoor photography, any kind of outdoor creativity, is a blessing. It is. I'm getting cheesy, I know. But I know it's helped me out so much. So, yeah, I encourage everybody to be creative and to enjoy the outdoors. There you go. How's that? Nice, nice, softy message to end on. Seriously, let me know about the images and all that. Yeah, not every image is my portfolio. Remember that. All right, all right, I'm going, I'm going. All right, bye, and I'll see you next time. Cheers. Just a quick bonus image that I spotted on my way back out of here and home. Very abstract, but, yeah, it caught my eye. And, as I mentioned before, it's all about exploring what catches your interest, regardless as to whether or not it makes a good image. Okay, so, yeah, apologies for the extended video. Once again, thank you, and I'll leave you with this final image. And I'll see you next time.