It’s Officially Spring!

President’s Weekend has now come and gone officially welcoming spring to Crested Butte. Locals are contemplating their trips once the ski area closes and the weather has turned more toward squalls than storms. Spring storms usually bring wind as well. It’s my least-favorite weather phenomena. Growing up in Oklahoma can do that to a guy!

Winter Shadows 1

The change of weather patterns welcomes new photo opportunities to the high country as light and shadow are now changing almost constantly. The landscape takes on a frequently abstract play of texture and light. Capturing the ephemeral beauty takes patience, planning, persistence and luck. Chasing images this time of year is not always rewarding as the playful shadows and forms can quickly disappear into fog or a two-day dump.

Last weekend we got both. Saturday was snowy, warm and wet with poor photo opportunities. A good day to read a book in front of a fire! Not a good day to shoot the Snowboard Extremes! Sunday and Monday were sunny and warm; great days to be outdoors. Today, it’s snowing and windy again. So I’m at the computer…doing laundry…and figuring out how to drop photos into these pages and trying to become motivated to do these posts on a regular basis.

Ice God

That seems to be life though. As we used to hear on Saturday Night Live, ”if it’s not one thing, it’s another!”. So we push on and try to do the best we can with the cards we’re dealt, make the best of our opportunities and not get our undies in a bunch if we have to change our plans. Photography seems to be like that more often than not. We set out for a particular location to create a pre-visualized image and find ouselves shooting flowers instead of frogs and shadows instead of scenics. I guess the lesson for me is to not get too attached to the outcome. Just be happy to have this opportunity and this way of life. I think it’s a gift to be able to do what we do as photographers. Our profession opens lots of doors and provides us with plenty of opportunities to meet people, go places and see things many others don’t have. I guess it’s our responsibility and calling to share what we see with those folks so they get to have the experiences vicariously through our images. It’s a cool job!