We had our first good drop of snow here in Southeast Michigan this week. Despite some brutally cold temperatures we had prior to Christmas, winter around here seemed a bit delayed – at least visually. The lakes are behind in freezing over. And it just never feels like the season in the Midwest until we have some snow accumulation on the ground. As a kid, you look forward to snow days home from school, sledding hills, or a welcomed warm car to take you around your paper route when you finally couldn’t do it by bike any longer. If we are going to endure the cold, at least give us some snow.
These river birch trees in our yard have been a common subject of mine to study. This past autumn, I photographed them in thick fog, and previously in an ice storm. As much as I like their peeling bark, they tend to be a bit difficult to photograph. I haven’t been able to make any images closeup of the bark that I ended up liking (yet). In a wider view, the trunks aren’t large enough to amount to much. On a regular day, it is difficult to separate these features from the clutter of the surrounding environment.
The trees grow in clusters, and we planted three of them in a triangle. Similar to the photograph in the fog, the recent photographs required a significant contribution to the surrounding landscape by Mother Nature. In addition to the simple winter wonderland type beauty, the sticky snow acts like a magic eraser. The sandstone/rust color of the bark of the river birch trees becomes a unifying element of the lines created by them.
I believe if winter looked like this all season long, more people would enjoy it. Sadly, sticky snow like this rarely lasts more than a day or two before it begins falling off the branches. Visual clutter returns – then we are back to griping about how cold it is. 🙂
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.”
Henry David Thoreau, 1853
I like winter, but here in the northeast we haven’t had one (little snow, mild temperatures). Winter roared in last night, down to -7F. The complexity of all those branches is subdued by the pretty snow. It’s lovely.
Sounds similar to here, winter arrived suddenly. But the snow that came with this particular storm is hanging around on the ground, branches not so attractive anymore – which is interesting to think about.
” I believe if winter looked like this all season long, more people would enjoy it. Sadly, sticky snow like this rarely lasts more than a day or two before it begins falling off the branches. Visual clutter returns – then we are back to griping about how cold it is”. That is true. I miss it when I lived back in Maryland and I could see the naked trees covered in fresh snow. Here in California I only saw it once, on a 6-hour interval between two storms at Yosemite. It was so beautiful! We had to drive in and out quickly knowing that we could get stuck if we didn’t get out in time for the next storm.
Having the backdrop of Yosemite would be welcomed! 🙂 Though getting stuck outside, not so much.
River birches are beautiful trees but I believe you when you say these have been hard to photograph. You certainly succeeded here though! The horizontal composition is flat-out gorgeous. And I admire your way with words – sticky snow and magic erasers!
We had the same snow in northeast Ohio. I drove through mile after mile of white-outlined branches, but I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get a chance to get out of the car and photograph it. So, thank you, Mark, for making the snow stick in your beautiful photographs. Your narrative captures the experience of snow wonderfully well.
I also believe if winter looked like this all season long, more people would enjoy it. But, that isn’t the case. These two are beautiful images. Glad you planted them. We too have not had much snow and winter seems amiss. Yet people are skiing in the mountains, which is where most of the snow belongs. We are in a system now of 30% for the next 3 days and night time lows at zero. Both tomorrow and Monday highs are expected to be in the single digits. Brrrr!
It seems like a fairly weak winter in a lot of places, but it has the month of Feb to redeem itself still. 🙂 Thanks Monte!
Beautiful scene…still have not had any snow here. I’d like to stop switching from summer to winter outfits every other day.
You can thank the wobbly jetstream for that!
Love the photo…..still hate the winter 🙂
LOL. Sometimes I do too.