The Time A Snow Squall Blew By And I Ran Out Into It With My Camera
A little before noon today a friend in DC reported via text message that it was snowing. In slight disbelief I went to my office window and cranked open the blinds and was confronted with the sight of snow covered cars, and snow covered streets, and snow blowing sideways with fat flakes reducing visibility. It was snowing and how!
There was only one thing to do… I gathered my camera and jacket and keys and headed for the door leaving quick word that I was “stepping out for lunch.” After a short drive I was turning onto one of the battlefield’s gravel roads and began to make my way, camera in hand, across a field…
It was really cold and the wind blew snow sideways and I was dressed only in jeans and a button down shirt covered by a thin gore-tex shell. No gloves, no hat, no wind deflecting Buff. I had even forgotten my protective amber shades and my eyes teared up and suffered for the mistake. I did carry my camera, the Mark III with the 70-200 IS attached, that big white lens. The several pounds of cold, heavy metal worked to further draw heat from my extremities. My fingers became red and painful down past the second knuckle.
Despite all this, despite the pain, and the cold, and the wind that buffeted my camera each time I lifted it from my side and the protective eddy my body formed, it was awesome. It was awesome to be out of the office if only for a few minutes, running across the snowy field, head down, hood drawn.
I would stop, force my head up, compose, shoot, put my head down, and run some more. Run, stop, compose, shoot, run, stop, maybe not so much compose, shoot, run. Repeat as necessary.
Eventually I had to get out of the wind and sought shelter in my favourite barn. I shook the snow off my pants and shoes and changed lenses. I shot some more while protected from the storm. But then it was time to go. I ran out across the field and back to the car, and back to the office, and back to reality.
More snowy photos on Flickr.
