A Photo Essay of the Cold
PHOTO CHALLENGE | Create a photo essay of sorts that represent ‘cold’.
As an extension of our previous prompt on photo series, we’re examining the feeling or presence of ‘Cold’ in photography. In a photo essay, you’ll likely start early to show a sense of ‘before’ the main event (when I use the word event, it can be anything–where you’re going, what you’re doing, etc) or subject that you’re waiting/shooting for. This isn’t always possible, but if you allow yourself to think in terms of a beginning, middle, and end, you’ll start to see how it works in a narrative sense.
Documenting the early stages of an event.
Photographing people and moments at an event.
Adding final finishing photos for an event story (details and wide shots).
Look for, or add, pops of color.
What I love most about shooting for concepts like cold, is how open and creative the terms are. You can shoot for literal interpretation, metaphorical, and anything in between that represents that idea to you.
You can also go out on the town and explore how the cold is being handled or what has changed due to the weather. Of course, you can look outside your window and wander around your yard or down the street, look for details, and small vignettes that catch your eye. Lastly, you can show the fire blazing inside, hot mugs of coffee/tea, your thick blanket on the couch—whatever you want and whatever makes you think “oh that was a cold day” as you look through your photos. Note your own reaction to you images. What is your response? Do you get that sense of a feeling, an emotional response, are you struck by it somehow? Does it makes sense to you? Whatever your response will be will indicate how others might react.
Tips for shooting in a winter landscape:
Snow can bring a sense of monochromatic color tones, consider throwing on a colorful jacket or umbrella in a snowstorm to add contrast to an otherwise overcast photo. Or with winter portrait photography, consider framing with trees or rocks outdoors to juxtapose the snow.
If you’re working with people in your scene, ask yourself: Does the person add value or detract from the wintery scene? Does it give the viewer an idea of how large your mountains or trees are? If they don’t improve your overall composition, forget about it and create a separate portrait of them or just the landscape.
With an abundance of dreary, monochrome weather in wintertime, using empty space can often be striking if done effectively. Use white space to your advantage when composing winter landscape photography, add a subject in the foreground that adds depth to the photo. Empty space can be minimalist and powerful.
If the clouds part (if we’re lucky!), get out when the sun is nearest the horizon, just before rising or setting. That light can add another layer of magic to your scene.
One benefit of shooting in the bright conditions of snow and sun: Shooting action photos with a fast shutter speed is incredibly easy. A skier moving down a mountain or a snowball fight can yield some interesting shots, as can a dog running across your frame, cars driving past, or wildlife in motion. Take advantage of the abundance of available light and shoot all the action photos you want.
One of the simplest snow photography tips is to capture snow in the foreground with a subject focused in the background to create a nice blurred effect framing your subject.
When out in falling snow, you’ll run into a number of natural elements that could be shot in a variety of ways. That means you have plenty of opportunities to explore perspective. Try a macro lens for some close-up frost and snowflake shots, shoot from the ground, consider framing and angles you likely hadn’t though of before.