Just so you could see what it looked like today I brought my camera out on a little family walk (Matt, Lexi + I) for some snapshots. Snapshots. I like that word because there’s something very simple and real about it… and that’s pretty much how these photos are. I had multiple layers on myself and a target plastic bag wrapped around the camera – it mostly kept the snow out, but it was still a challenge. To try and keep things simple, I started in aperture priority but of course the camera could not handle all of the white snow and was trying to make it gray. Gray? yes. Confused? Let me explain. To calculate the exposure for an image all cameras have light meters inside of them that measure how bright (or dark) scenes are. Cameras average the light in a scene so that it is middle (or appx. 18%) gray. While this usually works pretty well, it doesn’t in situations like the one I encountered today, where the scene is almost all white. For a better explanation, read this post I found.

To shorten the story, as I fumbled with my camera settings while trying to keep my hood on and the camera safe within the plastic bag (I’m pretty low tech in that way, I know) I ended up incorrectly exposing most of my pictures. When I got home they were much too dark, and therefore, very snapshot worthy. I did edit them to increase the exposure (which I think completely falls in the realm of acceptable editing – back in my darkroom days there were many dodge +burn sessions) and… this is what I came up with. I had the hood from my 135mm lens on my 50mm which is why you see so much vignetting on the images (I didn’t add that in on the corners). Even though I these didn’t come out perfectly, I like their graphic quality and thought I’d share them with you.

It really has been crazy here – if you’re living through it, I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am. There’s something about the snow that is just so much fun. It makes you feel like a kid since it transforms the world so much. For those of you in the north who have yet to have a snow day… I’m sorry! Truely I am. I would invite you down here if I trusted Virginia drivers in this weather, but I don’t.