Texture in SnowdriftSnow Abstract

Winter is a great photography clean sweep. When snow covers the land everything get simplified and a lot of distractions get buried. In winter, I like looking for minimal scenes with as few features as possible focusing on lines, curves, or tonal contrast.

Winter also provides a wonderful supply of close up or macro opportunities. On the macro side, ice crystals and snowflakes come to mind. Stepping just a tiny bit further, natural close ups provide great opportunities for abstract photographs.

On these pages, I have shared with you how much I like Lake Erie in winter when it freezes over with a solid layer of ice, gets covered with snow, and wind created some very interesting ice and snow formations (Frozen Lake Erie), like snow volcanoes (Snow Volcano, Active Volcano on Lake Erie).

The two winter abstracts I would like to share today are a combination of the above. Both are from a frozen lake, even though the first one, Texture in Snowdrift, from a significantly smaller one. I found myself exploring Winter's Pond in winter and came upon this wonderful snowdrift. It was pure white and wonderfully sculpted by wind. It was full of gentle curves that caught light from different angles with textures created from the individual crystals rolling down.

Snowdrift LinesSnow Abstract At a different time as I scanned the frozen landscape on Lake Erie looking for ways to show the Great Lakes winter wonderland I came upon a snowdrift where the gentle curves were replaced with sharp edges creating an abstract so similar in one way, yet so different in another. You can see one of these in the second Snowdrift Lines photo.

​I spend quite a while in almost the same spot just slowly turning around, moving the camera up and down to get a different perspective, and looking for additional angles. In the end, this was my favorite high key abstract of the day. I already look forward to searching for more and am sure a lake will play a role again. Their wide open areas where nothing stands in the wind's way has rather favorable conditions for creations like these.

Have fun!

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