Capturing Winter’s Varied Scenes

Today’s Post by Mildred Alpern

The northeast end of Central Park is known as Harlem Meer. It is a fine spot for photographing in every season with its man-made lake, wildlife natural habitat, and surrounding hills. It has rolling slopes for sledding in winter.

The first real snowstorm in New York drew me there for its picture perfect beauty. The Meer or lake was half frozen, and beyond lay the buildings of 110th street and the Dana Discovery Visitor Center on its northern shore. They were sandwiched between blue sky and blue-toned snow and ice.

Sledding children and watchful adults were on the slopes. Pink, yellow, and red snowsuits splashed color on the bright winter snow scene. All was postcard lovely with spare and bare towering trees framing the frolickers.

But I found other images as well of a different mood. Needle-thin branches of shrubs lay lengthening patterns on fresh trammeled granular snow. Their elongated shadows and sinuous shapes cast a scrawling story of winter’s blanketing and its cold sleep. The varied moods of winter scenes were found by looking all around as well as up and down.

All images were shot with the Olympus E-M5 Mark II and the M.Zuiko 12-40mm f.2.8 Pro lens; the ice and snow at 12mm, with an exposure of 1/40 sec at f/22 and ISO 100, +1/3 EV; the sledder at 40mm, with an exposure of 1/50 sec at f/22 and ISO100, +1/3 EV; the branches at 40mm with an exposure of 1/6400 at f/6.3 and !SO 640, +2/3 EV

Mildred’s book Haiku and Images is available on Amazon and is filled wit h beautifully reproduced color photographs along with original haiku underneath, embellishing the image and deepening its meaning. Pick up a copy to give as gift for yourself or a friend.