Winter photography

Winter photography is not as popular as photography in other times of the year. Photographing subjects in the winter isn’t something I do to much of. Why? Well, winter is considered drab, messy and too cold.

Last year I had one winter photography shoot and it was cold. We had to get into the car frequently to warm up. Last weekend I did it again. This time it was an engagement photo shoot for a couple living in central Nebraska – Brittany and Ethan. Brittany had mentioned months ago that she might like an engagement shoot in the winter. It wasn’t something I was too eager to do. I don’t much like cold, and when I operate my camera I can’t be wearing my toasty mittens.

But when Brittany asked to do the photos last Saturday I noticed that the weather forecast was for a slightly warmer day — in the mid 30s. I figured that wouldn’t be too bad so I agreed. I met Brittany and Ethan at Pioneer Park at 4 p.m. last Saturday. It was chilly but not overly cold. They weren’t even wearing coats, even though I was. I didn’t wear my mittens of course but my hands didn’t get too cold. Plus I used my pockets when we weren’t shooting.

Brittany and Ethan brought their beloved dog, a boxer named Apollos. The dog didn’t cooperate 100 percent of the time but actually he posed quite nicely. We got some great photos of the couple with their dog. Some of the photos and some were more natural shots of them walking Apollos. I was quite happy with the way the photos turned out.

One of the concerns about shooting in snow is will the bright snow throw off the camera exposure. I think the fact that it was not sunny out helped as the sun was not reflecting off the snow to make everything too bright. It was an overcast day and that worked well for the photo shoot. I looked for areas of undisturbed snow and found several places.