Opportunities

January Snow Storm
Fujifilm X-t1, 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens @ 18mm; 1/20th sec. @ f/2.8; ISO 1600 (click to enlarge)
This is a center 50% crop of the entire image.

If you followed the news over the past few days, there was a very large, even record breaking, snow storm in eastern and north eastern United States.  We experienced just the very southern edge of that storm here in southeastern Virginia.  At my home, I measured just over 4 inches of snow.  However, just a few miles west and the snow was significantly higher, 14 inches or so.

Our weather started out on Friday as sleet, then turned to snow.  In the evening, the warmer air pushed north and the snow then turned to rain.  As the low pressure system pushed east and north, cold air moved back in and all of that wet turned to ice.  On Saturday, again, the sleet started and then about 4 inches of snow fell.  Four inches isn't much to worry about, but the underlying ice made things very interesting.  I intended to go out and photograph, as well all know, bad weather makes for interesting images. However, I decided I really didn't need to go out and take a chance that someone may slide their automobile into mine. 

So, the challenge became how to find something to photograph during this weather event. In the end, I just went out to the end of my driveway, stood and photographed in both directions.  The image at the top of this post is one of the results.

The snow was falling heavily and the wind was blowing pretty hard.  I picked up my Fuji X-T1, put the 18-55mm lens on it, set everything to 'auto,' and went out in the night.  I thought that the technology in today's cameras would be sufficient to get the exposures right even when all controls were set to auto.  And it was.  The weather-proof body as well as the non-weather-proof lens, performed as expected.  I did take extra efforts upon returning inside to ensure my lens was completely dry and no residual moisture was left.

The point of all this being that you can find opportunities to create interesting images almost anywhere if you just look.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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