When to use B&W, that’s a great question that is asked so often. In the most technical sense, you need a clean black and a clean white as the starting point to a successful B&W print. The print only comes from time in the field with a camera. In this pursuit, the white is the harder of the two to find. But not in winter as much as snow in the right region abounds. We often though want to bring “warmth” to the winter scene. The juxtaposition easily works within the bounds of the viewfinder. This mean typically a color versus a B&W photo. On the other hand the drama and romance that B&W brings to a snowed covered landscape can tell a more powerful story. This brings us back to the question, when to shoot B&W? I’m so confused … not really but then I live in snow country and I think that’s the key. Not living in snow but rather your emotional response to snow, snow covered landscape, cold and telling its story visually. The one time I know I’ll go B&W is when the drama in the sky screams snow storm coming! The white of the snow against that landscape is power and that power comes out dramatically in B&W. But with all of this said, it still begs the question, B&W a natural for snow?

Yellowstone in winter is spectacular, and the new North Entrance road provides grand perches to take it all in! I just love the new road (the old road is at the bottom of the image) and they built some pullouts with me in mind it would seem. The storm was just on its way out when we pulled over bringing more drama to an already perfect location. It’s just wow, the view is grand!

There was a time back in the ’70s when I flirted with the idea of going into architecture photography. It’s probably because of the math, all the lines, engineering, and symmetry that grabbed my imagination. While I didn’t pursue it, when I’m in a big city (they are all big compared to where we live) I tend to indulge those old flames by pointing my lens up. So was the case when we were in Sydney a few weeks back. There is no doubt the clouds are what made me look up and after that, it was just fun. I’ve already posted some of my photos of the Opera House, but I saved a couple for here because the Sydney skyline wouldn’t be complete without including them. Is there a “trick” to this stuff? I think that if you don’t feel it, it won’t come out in the photo. The it? A bit of passion for the lines, I think it’s all about the lines. A couple of the shots, the lines were squared up in ACR, otherwise they are as they lead. And after this, where did I go to shoot? Why, back to the forest of course. It would seem I can only take a few days of the big city landscape.