Winter Scenes

Split Rail Fence and 18th Century Battlefield (click to enlarge)
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 40.1mm; 1/80th sec. @ f/11; ISO 200

As I had mentioned in a previous post, here, for me winter photography lends itself more to black and white that does photography during the other three seasons.  Winter is typically dreary, deft of color, with short cold days.  The only color I like in the winter is when the sun is very low in the sky, casting especially long and very warm shadows.  Any other time of the day, I prefer to see my potential images in black and white.

On the same day I was wandering through the Yorktown Battlefield National Park and photographed the swamp scene (found here), I saw this long split rail fence that was constructed between the small road on which I was driving and some of the 18th century Revolutionary War battlefields.  I thought the fence was interesting in that these fences are not often scene, has much detail and where it was located, very photogenic.  As I drove slowly I looked for a spot that would provide a pleasant scene to complement the fence and surrounding landscape nicely.

I settled on the one at the top of this post as well as this second one.  I don't think either are anything special, but they caught my eye and I spent some time "working' the scenes to see what I could make out of them.  These types of photographs are more of an exercise for me to keep my vision and skills intact.  I will look to make something out of nothing and see what I can create.  This conversion was done entirely in Lightroom.

What I liked about the top image is the clear definition of the foreground, middle ground and background.  All clearly delineated by their subjects.  The split rail fence, the field of grass and the stand of pines.  The subject of the image, to me, is the fence with the middle aged tree standing tall next to it.

X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 24.2mm; 1/90th sec. @ f/11; ISO 200 (click to enlarge)

The second image, which I encountered a bit down the road from the first, captured my attention due to the tree itself.  The twist and texture of the bark was a unique feature and, again, I thought I would see what I could make of it.  I kept this one in color for two reasons. First, the bright yellow-green patches of moss really brought some life to the foreground and, second, much more of the blue sky started to appear.  The black and white version would have lost those two elements.  If I my intention was to just highlight shape, form and texture, I would have left the fence and tree in black and white to rid the viewer of the distraction of color.

I was pleased with these two images as well as the one I mentioned at the top of this post as as result of my wanderings that day.  Often times, I have a need to go out and photograph.  I want to keep my skills sharp and my vision intact. Mostly, I enjoy going out by myself as I find photography more of a solo endeavor that a group endeavor.  Even when photographing with friends, we find ourselves working in a solo manner than staying together.  The cold winter day out alone just trying to get my creative juices flowing was very satisfying.  Try it.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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