Fresh and Old

From this picture, it is clear to see that new snow has fallen. The trees are covered in the new snow and the rocky mountainside has no new snow on it. I like to see the white trees since it is something that I nearly don't take pictures of. Most of the pictures I take of trees, the trees are only green or have an interesting flower on it. These trees are green and white.

Accumulation

Another pine tree, more accumulation fell. The snow fell so lightly that if you zoom in on the picture, it is easy to see the flakes. From this picture, it is clear that the snow stopped falling. This is true but only for a few hours. The snow fell very heavily for two hours then stopped then resumed snowing very heavily after about three hours of no snow.

Pine Needles

This pine tree was the first on many to accumulate snow. One of the reasons why is because this tree is an evergreen, meaning that it always has leaves/needles on it. The needles help to hold the snow on the tree which makes it one of the first trees to collect snow. I like how close I was able to get to this tree. We are able to the shape of the snow on the tree and some of the snow that has already melted. 

Down the Road

One of the cool things that snow does, is it turns anything it lands on white. If the conditions are right, the snow will fall on itself and start to accumulate. When not touched, you are able to see the separation of the flakes. I took this picture at the beginning of the storm but the accumulation is coming and the trees are just started to get covered.

Snow Time

As the heavy snow continued to fall, I found this clock. As the snow fell all around it, I knew it was the perfect picture. If I could change one thing about this picture, it is the red sign in the top right corner. I would have liked for the background to be a perfect white from the snow, but I still do like this background.

Spring Snow

One of the days while we were in Colorado, a heavy snowstorm blew in. Snow fell in the mountains and in the valleys. In the valley, heavy snow fell for a couple of hours, stopped, then heavy snow fell again four hours later. Overall, about six inches of snow fell. I tried to capture both the branch and the falling snow. The snow almost paints the photograph with white dots.

Split Forest

The next night, more than a dusting of snow fell. The snow was carried by a strong wind from the West. It blew the snow across the picture from the right side to the left side. This is why half of the forest of white and the other half of forest is the normal color green. What doesn't make sense, is the trees that are covered in snow are covered in what seems to be almost a foot of snow. It must have been one crazy storm that blew through.

Snow on Ice

During the same night as the Snow Specks, rain fell before the snow fell. The rain hit this grill and froze, this created the domes on the grill. As the temperature dropped, snow started to fall. Since the ice is frozen, the snow fell on top of the ice domes and stayed there. When I first saw this I didn't understand. I touched the water to see if it was frozen or not. When it didn't move, I knew it was frozen and perfect to post.

Snow Specks

Very very light snow fell overnight. Some of the snow, when it hit the Earth, split into smaller specks. These specks are really cool to photograph. The wood grains give a scale to show how small the snow really is. While I wasn't able to capture a full snowflake, these snow specks are just of great.

Winter Bird

Birds like this bird are very interesting. They are able to live and strive in freezing temperatures. I have never understood how they do this. Their small body mass shouldn't be able to hold much heat but it must if it wants to live in Colorado during the winter.

Icy Reflection

As the sun started to set, I took a reflecting shot of this bush growing out of the icy water. This water is from the snow that has melted, froze, then melted again. At night, the temperatures reached around ten degrees below freezing, this froze the water. During the day, the temperatures reached at least 40 and if not then higher. All of this freezing and melting made the snow start to look more like ice and not snow. 

Snow Line

On this smooth snow, I focused on this single line. The snow is perfectly white and you are able to distinguish between the different flakes. This picture has more snow circles than the last picture. The circles closer to the focused line are smaller and more defined. As you move away from the focus line, the circle become much bigger and the boundaries of the circle start to blend with other circles.

Textured Snow

I find the top of snow very interesting. It can be perfectly white or have dirt scattered over it. It can be smooth or in chunks. The snow could look like individual flakes or one big flake. This snow is slightly different than the other snow I have pictured. It has dirt scattered over it, it's chunky, and the flakes all seem to be one big flake. The place your eyes want to focus on in this picture is the middle, focused part. If you look below the focused part, the snow jumps out at the camera. It reflects the sun back to the camera which makes the flakes look like circles.

Aspen Eyes

These are the eyes that I was explaining yesterday. Some look more like eyes than others, but they really do look like eyes. The tree has a unique white bark that is very thin and easy to peel off. In the fall, when the leaves turn color, the Aspen Trees make the forest a very interesting place to be. The bright yellow leaves and white bark light up the forest.

Aspen Snow

The tree that is focussed on, is an Aspen Tree. This tree is known to have 'eyes' on them. As the branch gets too heavy for the tree to hold, it falls off. Before it falls off, it strains the bark around the tree giving the shape of the top of a eye. Once the branch falls, dark bark grows where the branch was. These help to make the 'eyes' on the Aspen Tree.

Snowmen

Unlike the last snow peaks, these snow peaks look like something. The snow going up on the right looks like a person and the snow in the back left looks like a bull or an animal. It might just be me, but I can really see that in this picture.

Snow Shapes

As the sun hit the snow in different spots, it melted that spot. This formed very interesting snow shapes. I crouched down low and shot level with the snow. I was trying to show its shape as it rose and fell. I like how there are some different colors in the snow. It makes the picture not all white and gives depth to the snow. You are able to distinguish the different snow shapes more easily with more definition.

Snow Flakes

All snowflakes are different. This makes every snowflake different. It is what also makes every snowflake interesting. When the snowflake falls down naturally, and it doesn't get deformed, it makes a crystal. These snow crystals are very fun to photograph. They might be very small, but if enough snowflakes are together, they can sometimes form hundreds of feet of solid snow.

Black and White Bird

During all of the trips I go on, I try to look for birds. Birds are different everywhere you go. In Texas, birds have to learn how to survive in hot and dry summers. In Colorado, birds have to learn to survive cold and wet winters. Most birds are not able to live in both climates. This means that there are new birds nearly everytime the climate changes. This draws my camera to the sky to try to capture the new bird.

Snow Rock

Even though the temperature was in the 40s, some snow remained on the ground. This rock had been completely covered in snow. After multiple days of above freezing temperatures, the snow melted and more of the rock was shown every day. The snow during this picture covered only around half of the rock. I tried to capture both the snow and the rock, I think I was able to do that even though half of the snow was gone.