Impression, Winter

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11:00 in the morning, a frosty foggy day with a shed and bare tree silhouetted against a grey sky

While many people find winter to be the worst season of the year, I can’t despise it. Yes, the cold and dark can be dreary, and yet there is so much beauty God gives to us at this time of year, if we would see it. Last Thursday was one such day, as we woke up to a beautiful foggy, frosty day, as is common in this part of the world, but never commonplace. The world was a glistening winter wonderland, with every surface coated in thick heavy frost, while fog clouds hung low, obscuring the horizon, or at least bringing it in close. There is something unique about a heavy fog, because not only is the sightline hidden and the light diffused and dimmed, but the world becomes quiet, muffled even. Things seem to still and slow down and when you walk outside in a winter fog, you truly feel solitary.

These first photos were taken at 11:00 am when I hurried out to quickly take some photographs, wrapped in a wool coat and scarf, with the cold air nipping at my fingers.

A couple of hours later, around 1:00, the sun had started to burn through the fog, and the quality of light had changed. Again I wrapped up warmly and went out to capture those light changes, feeling an affinity with those Impressionist painters who would begin painting a scene, quickly grabbing a new canvas every time the light changed in order to capture an accurate depiction of the scene before them. While, of course, a photograph is quicker than a brush and canvas, it was interesting to see how strikingly different the world looked just a few hours later. I then continued to watch throughout the day, going out again at 4:00, 4:30 and then the next morning at 11:00. Each time I went out the qualities of light had changed, sometimes with high contrast and blue skies, sometimes with golden light and then finally a light pink glow across the sky. There was no wind, so the frost stayed on the trees for an entire 24 hour period. It was truly a beautiful day, and made me so thankful that I get to live in such a lovely part of the world.

I hope that wherever you live, you enjoy this first day of Winter (or the first day of Summer for those in the southern hemisphere) and are able to appreciate a bit of that changing quality of light and change of the seasons.

11:00 am

a misty foggy country road lined with trees

pine tree branch with needles covered in frost silhouetted against the sky

a pine tree and seedheads covered in frosty

11:00 in the morning, a grouping of spruce trees silhouetted against a foggy sky

1:00 pm

a snowy valley with a blue sky above and footprints in the snow across the field

afternoon pine tree and seedheads covered in frost and shining in the sun

graineries and trees against a blue sky with snow glistening in the sunshine

a fence coated with frost and a pine tree silhouetted against a blue sky

a shed and tree against a blue sky with frost glistening in the sun

4:00 pm

late afternoon golden glow of a shed and pine tree in the snow

late afternoon frosty day, with spruce tree tops against a blue sky

late afternoon trees silhouetted in golden light and shining across the valley

late afternoon country lane silhouetted against a golden sky

4:30 pm

evening light with a pink glow shining across the frosty trees

The next morning, 11:00 am

next morning, shed and pine tree frosty again

tree branches silhouetted against a grey bare sky

pine branches and seedheads covered in frost

pine tree covered in frost silhouetted against a grey muted sky