Rangefinder Magazine
Features

Reprising Winter by Jane Wingate
Recording the Passing of Winter in Digital Fashion

In “Seasons at Eagle Pond,” Donald Hall wrote, “In New Hampshire we know ourselves by Winter—in snow, in cold, in darkness.”

GoldFinch

No doubt about it, winter in northern New England is snowy, cold, and its long dark days test the mettle of all of us who stick around for the duration, turning up our drippy cold noses at the “snowbirds” who flee to warmer climes ‘till spring returns.

We who tough it out can choose between cooping up and huddling under afghans, or bundling up and getting out and enjoying winter’s stark beauty.

So we don fleece and goosedown and insulated boots, slide into our nifty high-tech Tubbs snowshoes, and strike out.

And if we’re photographers who can’t stand to pass up the opportunity for shooting landscapes in any season, we make the effort to haul along the camera gear.

	Grasses and Shadows

But schlepping all that gear—camera, lenses, film, extra batteries, tripod—while swaddled and waddling along on snowshoes—takes not only planning, but lots of stamina and considerable grit.

Ice Crystals

Ah, but the photographer can still satisfy that urge to capture whatever catches his eye along the way by slinging just one camera around his neck, inside his jacket to keep the battery warm.

The purists among us might call that “cheating,” arguing that the very best landscapes can only be made with full battle gear: “traditional” cameras with “real film” on rock-steady tripods. And who would would disagree?

But pretty good landscapes can be taken using the point-and-shoot method, though obviously the more experience the photographer has, the better will be his images, because he brings all his know-how to bear on his hand-held shooting: his skills in composition, reading light, and judging depth of field.

When I venture forth into winter, the camera I tuck inside my jacket is Sony’s 2.1 MP CD1000 camera, the one that records images on three-inch CD’s. (See the February, 2001 Rangefinder for a review of this camera.) And into pockets go a spare battery and an extra disc already initialized —all set to pop into the camera’s disc drive.

	Leaf on Snow

One of the most appealing things about digital cameras is their instant-replay feature. As soon as you’ve taken your shot, you can see if you got what you wanted. This feature is especially convenient when you’re shooting snow, which can be tricky to get as white as the eye sees it. (Adding on anywhere from a third of a stop to two stops is usually necessary to hold the whites in the snow.)

These photos were all taken this past January and February, in my larger backyard here in southern New Hampshire.

Freelance writer and photographer Jane Wingate is based in Rochester, NH. She can be reached at her web site, www.janewingate.com, or by e-mail at wingate@worldpath.net.