Happy New Year Everyone!

On our part of the planet it is winter now and the glow of short cold days in most places this time of year brings new photographic challenges along with simply wondrous landscape settings.

For openers the angle of the sun and consequently the moon bring more chances of great light without the huge amount of hours of overhead, and on clear days, shadow-less flat images. Directional light is usually softer and more luminous as the short days limit the arc across the sky.

However the problems can increase as well.

In the featured image today on the rim of The Grand Canyon there were a bundle of solutions needed. First was the cold. It was the first shoot of the day and 17 F before I left the indoor warmth. I had left my photo gear in the vehicle the night before not having an unheated area to stow it inside. Condensation can be a huge problem if forgotten. You never want to bring gear from the cold and then expose it to much higher temperatures. If I have to bring my gear into a warm area I’ll find a place with good ventilation and make sure not to open the pack to avoid problems when moving back into the cold. If I need to clean gear I’ll do it in the field in the morning. I pull all batteries and take them with me indoors. After charging I’ll put all of them in my parka and load them in the field as needed. The charge holds much better in inside pockets taking advantage of body heat. If temps drop below zero F I’ll drop a hand warmer in the pockets with batteries.

We’ll talk more about the problems encountered when shooting in this environment in the next blog post.