Winter Wonderland

Last week, we returned home to Canmore from Arizona. We were greeted by brisk weather (not a surprise), -25 deg C (or -13 deg F) at Calgary upon our arrival. By Saturday, the weather had moderated and I went out for a walk in and around our Canmore neighbourhood. Of course, I brought a camera and took a few pictures.

This first picture was taken as I exited the park behind our home. I call it “Re-make”, a winter version of an autumn scene I took two months ago at the same place. I included that picture, entitled”Woodland Path” in a blog post I issued on October 2, “Autumn Scenes Around Home”. That photo featured vivid autumn colours. Since there is very little colour to be found right now, I converted this one to black and white.

Further along this path, I came across a simple but interesting subject, a stump largely buried in snow. Its appeal is the sunlight shining upon it through the trees. Without the twigs protruding through the snow and some disturbance of the snow, it might qualify as a minimalist picture. The snow is dry and largely undisturbed, pretty pure!

This is a similar scene to “Re-make”above, taken a little further along in my trek. I like the curving pathway through the trees and the accumulation of snow on the branches. Again, light and shadow contributes much to the appeal of the picture.

I saw this pile of firewood behind a home backing onto the trail. I couldn’t resist it! The owner has a good supply of fuel for his fireplace on those cold, winter nights, yet to come.

As I neared home, I passed this open lot with wild grasses largely buried in the fresh snow. My attention was drawn to the texture of the snow, created by the stems of grass poking through it. I also like the contrast generated by the strong shadows on the snow.

Just a little further along, I noticed this large, larch tree. It has shed its colourful needles, still there at the time I left for Arizona. The larch is a coniferous tree, one whose needles turn a bright orange in the autumn before falling off. The branches are much more visible once the needles are gone and as seen in this photo, their presence is accentuated by the snow resting atop them.

This pedestal serves as a signpost and as a lighting stanchion at the entry to our street. There are more of these decorative pillars along the street, in lieu of elevated street lighting.

Before I went back into the house, I took this picture looking across the Bow Valley, bounded on its northeast side by the Fairholme Range of mountains. The Bow River is obscured by the pine forest in the foreground. On the opposite side, you can see Canmore residential development that has occurred primarily in the past dozen years. The peak on the left side of the scene is Lady Macdonald, named after the wife of Canada’s first Prime Minister. Mount Fable is the peak on the right side. To the best of my knowledge, the distant peak in the centre remains un-named.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. I felt fortunate to see and photograph the fresh snow, powder-like before it warms again. More snow to come. In the forecast and in my blog.