Wintertime Photography by Kozmic Dreams

Another thing I love about wintertime in general is making snowmen. While it is rare enough to have good packing snow, it is even rarer that I have time to make a snowman. Most of the ones pictured are from earlier years.

Ice on the elm tree's branches in the backyard after an ice storm, taken at night with flash.

The snow is about 9" deep, as can be observed from what has settled on the table.

I tried to capture some of these perfect snowflakes that fell on my camera bag while at Holliday Park, but it was difficult without the benefit of my macro lens.

Ice formation in a creek at Pinckney State Park shot in daytime (first two photos) and late afternoon (next five photos).

These two icicles were on my front porch. Part of one looked like a man with a hat on (first 3 photos).

Before I went to bed tonight, I noticed that the snow I photographed previously had melted, yet remained contained in one big sheet. It was like one of Salvador Dali's melting clocks. Here are a couple photos...

This was the biggest snow of the season. I measured about 7 1/2 inches that fell on my outside table.

I thought we got a lot of snow on December 20, 2008, but this snowfall over a few days was even more. Again, I kept track of the camera settings. They were all taken at ISO 160 with different f-stops and shutter speeds.

Shortly before leaving for the Ugly Radio Rebellion concert to celebrate Frank Zappa's birthday, I noticed some interesting frost on the storm door and couldn't resist taking some photos. The brownish ones are without a flash and the others are with a flash.

We got a huge snowfall yesterday (I even got to stay home from school/work!). We haven't gotten this many inches of snow in quite a few years (about 9 inches). Today was sunny and the snow that was piled up on my outdoor table started melting from underneath and sliding off. I took some photos with different camera settings.

Today was a partly cloudy day, with bright sun shining through through the clouds rather often. It was melting the icicles on my house, so I decided to photograph them. Today's sky was much bluer and created a completely different mood than my icicle photos from January 26, 2008, even though they were taken in the exact same location. I placed these photographs in sequential order so that you can see the melting process and how its appearance changed from start to finish.

I also decided to try some stop-motion animation by taking photographs 15 seconds apart and stringing them together in Photoshop. I may have even made a fourth movie, but just seconds after taking my last photo for the third movie, it finally broke off and shattered

I also took a few photos of my snowman after 2 days had passed. We also received another dusting of snow. It was quite sunny today, as you can see from the photos. I thought it was funny how he now has eye sockets, thanks to the black paint absorbing the sun's electromagnetic energy and melting the snow!

I haven't built a snowman in over 7 years. Click here to shortcut to my last one. It seems like there is hardly ever any packing snow anymore and on the rare occasions that there is, I am too busy or not home. Today was a Tuesday. When I got home from work, the last thing I wanted to do was be outside, but I had some shoveling to do. I noticed that the snow was perfect packing snow and I was able to roll up a nice ball right in the driveway. So spontaneously, I just decided to make a snowman. This one had to be quick (about 45 minutes) because I really didn't have time to be making a snowman, but I knew that it could be another 7 years before I could again, so I figured I better take the opportunity. Funny thing was, just as I was finishing him up, the snow was no longer packing snow. A drizzly rain had fallen over it and it was too crystallized to work with.

On January 26, 2008, I photographed two icicles on my porch under varying settings. I also took a couple photos of the place where one of the icicle's drippings were landing.

On January 2, 2008, I drove down Hines Drive, bordered by Hines Park on either side. Hines Park is a popular recreational area in Southeastern Michigan. Although about half the normal route (and access to most of my favorite spots) was closed due to the annual festival of lights, I was still able to find some good winter scenes to photograph on the western half of the park closer to Northville. It snowed the night before last and the snow was still settled in the trees due to the cold temperatures (around 24 degrees Fahrenheit).

On January 14th and 15th, 2007, there was a lot of freezing rain. I photographed a few trees and shrubs on these days. The sky was rather dreary though and there wasn't much sun. The flash did cause a neat effect on the ice though.

On January 16th, something even more spectacular happened. When the sun came out, the trees' ice-encased branches glittered. It looked like some kind of fantasy world. I tried to capture some of the effect with my camera, but nothing compares to having seen it in real life.

Winter 2005

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Here are some icicles hanging from my awning photographed at different times of the day, some with a flash, some without. A couple are not in focus, but I still thought they were interesting photographs.

Christmas 2001

This is a snowman I built in the backyard.

Christmas 1995

Here are some icicles on my house against a crisp winter sky.

Christmas 1990

Here is a snowman I made in our front yard.

Christmas 1989

I think this is the first snowman I built all on my own.

Christmas 1980

Here is another of my dad's painted snowmen.

Christmas 1977

Here is one of the first snowmen I participated in building. My dad did most of the work though. He showed me that a snowman could be painted with spraypaint to add color. I've never known anyone else to use this technique.