new snow, new camera

Virginia got another snowstorm on Saturday, and this time I was here for the actual snowfall itself. I spent most of the day keeping the woodstove going and watching the snow gather on the mountain that I can see from my front window. By Sunday though, I decided that I had to go out and do what I always ask my students to do...get over the cold, bundle up, wander around and see what you can see, and take some pictures. Part of my motivation was that I have finally broken down and purchased a DSLR, a Canon 50D, and I wanted to go out and see how it would do in the snow, both in sunlight and in shade. Put it through some paces, really, and myself as well.
This is by far the most "sophisticated" camera I have ever owned, and I still can't bring myself to use it on auto...
There have been some very prominent photographers making images in winter conditions far more arduous than the one I was facing, and I did have some of them in mind. Lisa Robinson, for one, whose book "Snowbound" was a big hit in the art world a couple of years ago. Olaf Otto Becker created incredible work gathered from several trips to Greenland, and published "Broken Line". Catherine Opie photographed ice houses in blizzard conditions, and had them in a show as part of a mid career retrospective at the Guggenheim a couple of years ago.
I think part of the desire to create this kind of imagery is the challenge of composing in a landscape that has become almost featureless, covered in white, a tone that can be quite difficult to reproduce. Aside from the the technical, and the physical difficulties, (ie how not to get frostbite, keep the film and/or batteries from freezing), there is a desire to experience the sense of magic, the sense of aloneness, that one can feel in this situation. And the wandering around is such a big part of that.
I went out with the intention of some casual snapshots, check out the camera, etc, and came back an hour and a half later with images that made me happy.
Simplicity.
That's what made me happy.
Just weeds in the snow.