Spring Coming? A Patch of Grass in SnowA Map of a Continent? Or a Head with a Big Nose? I had a different post planned for today but decided to go with a more newsworthy piece instead. I hope you don't mind another white post - just passing on what Mother Nature serves me.

The other day I posted the patch of grass on the right in my Flickr stream. Not only was it a patch of green grass showing through the receding snow it was a patch of grass in sunlight. It felt very warm and seemed to scream spring is coming! I think I convinced myself and all of my followers of that.

- By the way, what does it remind you of? Two things came to my mind when I saw it outside. One when I looked at it as depicted in the photograph here, one when you tilt your head to the left. Hover over the photo and you will see where my imagination took me. -

Quite clearly, nature was not done yet with this solid winter season in Western New York. And yes, this winter was definitely well done, a masterpiece. Good dosage of snow, more than a generous serving of cold temperatures, and well stretched duration. Between Thanksgiving 2013 when it all started and now, it's been quite a cold while. And it will be a little while longer before we see the patches of grass again!

Mailbox in a BlizzardWinter storm around Buffalo, NY - March 2014 So what am I talking about here? Come on and join me on photograph number two. With the steady snowfall and blowing wind there really was not much you could see outside today. It was a white world! Even the colorful mailboxes and their posts did not stand out too well once in the distance. However, up close and personal with a wide angle lens and the whiteout behind them they dominated the scene.

For the photo on the left, I was already fairly low to the ground but looking at the photo now, I wish I dropped all the way down and possibly moved another inch closer. That way, the other mailbox might have come to view under the front one. Work the scene! Work the scene some more! Try a different angle! Higher? Lower! Left? Right! Closer! Further? It's all running through my head now. That's all good though, another opportunity to improve upon a shot next time.

To highlight low visibility in a photograph, whether in fog or falling snow, it's good to use a longer lens to put more distance and weather between the camera and whatever is in the distance. So for these photos I used my older D200 with 18-200mm lens. I stayed at the wide range for the mailbox shot but zoomed in for the next one where I really wanted the whiteness of the day to come through. Older or not, I was not interested in wrecking the camera and was glad I had the rain cover I bought last year (left). It was all heavily wrapped in snow within just a few minutes, yet I could keep going until I tried to take a picture of the snow being blown in buy face :-) Yes, no kidding, I had the great idea to turn right against the wind. Needless to say, that was the last photo I took before retreating to the fireplace.

Can You See?Another Winter Day around Buffalo, New York

Winter 2013/14 Is Reluctant to Give up!

Have fun, it's no fun without it!

PS: Back to the title of the above photograph that displays when you hover over it - Can you see? What does it remind you of? Where have you heard it before? Yes, there I go again with letting my mind wander, as in the Sound of Music Induced Moment of Nostalgia. It took me a while to remember it myself. How about Can … you … see?

Agatha in Minority Report

PPS: Does it scream Global Warming? Was this winter as good to polar bears regrowing there ice patches? Hopefully, since Global Warming moved to Europe this season, they pretty much had no winter there and spring started there in January.