I open the blinds and discover a blue bird day. I am fiddling around on the computer, passing the time until yoga class. But this changes everything! After 50 degree temperatures yesterday the rain came and shortly there after the snow. The valley trees are covered in a mixture of ice and snow, glistening in the morning sun. Yoga can wait; this is no time to be inside. I need to pack, charge the camera battery, boil water for tea, get food for the dog. A trail of gear stretches across living room floor. My plan is to race the sun into Neff’s Canyon and photograph the beauty of the day.
I drive the few miles to the canyon, watching the sun creep slowly down it’s side. Once on the trial I quickly find my subject with the Scrub Oak’s gangly branches piled with pristine powder, and the blank canvas that is the rolling terrain. This is the first time I have taken my camera out in months. Shooting in black and white I hope to obtain a classic feel, but I am struggling to just remember how to get the right exposure for snow. For the next few hours I move among the trees, capturing the scene from various angles and view points.
Arriving home I discover that the best pictures of the day are not of 3 inches of snow delicately balancing on the bare branches of a sleeping forest. Rather they are the quick shots of Leunig, who dutifully followed behind me as I slid down banks and lay in the snow in an attempt to capture a fleeting moment in time.
Quietly Making Noise 
