Down They Go, Horseshoe Falls in WinterNiagara Falls, Canada Despite the fact that winters in Buffalo and Western New York are pretty long I never seem to act on all of my photographic plans. There are so many beautiful places that I would like to photograph in winter and add variety to my photo collection! Niagara Falls was on my list for this year and turned out to be one of the destinations I made it to, and made it twice. After my recent evening expedition to the American side I made it to the Canadian side too.

Winter is my most favorite season at the Falls. There are so few people around that you are more likely to run into crowds at the Eternal Flame. And the colder it is when you visit the more intense the experience. I know, this may feel strange and you're now all going to think I am crazy, which I am not disputing, but the bone-chilling temperatures let you truly experience this natural wonder, to feel it, not just see it. This aspect helps me remove the surrounding civilization. Being that cold with so few people around gets me a little closer to what it would feel like in the middle of nowhere.

First, I only had the black and white photo accompanying this post. I like black and white for winter scenes, it removes colors that contribute nothing to the winter landscape. Many times, all that color does is introduce dirt and other distracting elements. However, I decided to add the color photo to show how two photos can show the same place at almost the same time in a whole different color! They're not at the exact same time, they're about an hour apart. The black and white came first still before sunset at 18:45, the colorful one later after sunset at 19:54. And while I do not want to spoil the magic, the colors in the sky have little to do with the sun. They're all city glow, also known as light pollution. But you know what? It helped me out when the sun took a day off.

Horseshoe Falls in WhiteKingdom of Ice at Niagara Falls

Have fun exploring the four seasons at your favorite locations!

Technical data: ISO 50 - 1/1.3 second - f/25 - aperture priority mode with +1.3EV exposure compensation - 31mm on the 24 - 85 mm zoom

Equipment Used:

Nikon D600, Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens, Manfrotto tripod (055MF3; replaced by 055CXPRO3 with the convenient Q90 column) and head (496RC2), Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack,  Petzl Zipka Plus 2 Headlamp (always in the bag just in case), Jackery Bar 5600mAh (usually o hand to keep the smart phone going), SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards, Nikon Capture NX2, Silver Efex Pro 2 from the Nik Collection.

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