Winter can be a crummy time for photography, unless there is snow. I've done the snow, but we've had a lot of the bare, colorless time too. That's when I concentrate on floral still life images. I buy flowers at the grocery store. Gerbera daisies are available throughout the year; tulips generally mean spring.
The Grande Ronde Valley seems even larger when covered in snow; the cloud formations on a snowy day in the southern end of the valley were amazing.
Once I decided to continue my photo blog, I believed I should post at least once a month. I was counting on some great winter images, but winter didn't really arrive---maybe February will be the month.
The nearby Blue Mountains have between 5-6 feet of snow, and the scenes are beautiful.
 |
 |
Exactly one mile from my back door is the bridge that crosses Clark's Creek. The little creek has originated in the mountains some miles to the southeast and it's moving just about 1/4 of a mile west to the Grande Ronde River. I can't count the number of times I have stood on the bridge to take a photograph, in every season. The creek has never run dry, which is unusual in our dry country, especially at the end of summer. It might freeze over, but it doesn't dry up. These are my favorite images of Clark's Creek.
We aren't really having winter...although we had a brief appearance a couple of weeks ago. It's just cold now. And in the Wallowa Canyon last week, each shaded corner for more than 10 miles was covered in hoar frost. It was strange to drive in sunshine and then turn a corner into a silvery-white Jack Frost landscape.
I love photographing winter, but we haven't really had any yet where I live. The neighboring county of Wallowa, however, had some serious snow a couple of weeks ago. (Only recently, high winds and rain took most of the snow.)
 |
