Hoarfrost in Minnesota
Today marked a milestone of sorts – it’s the first time in two years that we had a heavy hoarfrost and I didn’t have a prior commitment that kept me from going out to shoot it. I anticipated we’d get some last night since a pea-soup fog rolled in last evening. When I woke up this morning and saw the crystalline world outdoors, I bundled up and headed out to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
The tough part about shooting there in the winter is that they close off the 3-mile drive to motor vehicles. That means a hike in the snow to get anywhere. Framing up a shot without the snowbank along the road meant trudging through 2 feet of snow with a full load of camera gear. The conditions were perfect – the sun didn’t burn off the frost and the fog rolled out leaving it nice and clear.
Strangely, this picture is not black and white. With a white sky, lots of snow, and dark tree bark there’s almost no color in the picture. A slight blue cast to the snow is about the only giveaway that it’s not black and white.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40 f/4L @26mm ISO 200, f/13, 1/250 sec.
Please, please tell me that you shot really tight into the trees? Saw your tweet picture & was hoping that was the direction that you were headed. Obviously, you were going for a lot of sky.
Amazing! Truly beautiful image, Mark.