Storm in the Pines

Storm in the PinesA snowstorm in a Colorado Lodgepole Pine forest near Gunnison, Colorado. The area is along the Taylor River and called Taylor Canyon. It's one of my very favorite places to make photos.

I love stormy weather. I always have. I probably always will. Back in my newspaper days, living in Duncan, Oklahoma, we would get the tornado warning sirens a few times every year. We were supposed to get into an inside closet and wait for the all-clear signal. I would go stand on the front porch and look for tornados.

We don't have tornados anywhere around Crested Butte, Colorado but I still love being out in stormy weather, especially snowstorms. I also love trying to capture the mood and excitement these storms generate. I'm usually disappointed in the results but keep trying. "Storm in the Pines" was one of my more successful attempts.

The Lodgepole Pine trees in Taylor Canyon hold onto snow better than most. The canyon is narrow and protected from the sun and some wind. It's one of my very favorite places to photograph. This late-February storm brought several inches of fresh, white, powder and was not as cold most. I had to go to work! In the photo, you can't really tell that it's actually snowing. The trees closer to the camera have good color and contrast but as you go deeper into the woods, the color saturation and contrast diminish quickly. This fact adds depth and some mystery to the scene. As I was making pictures the wind started to blow the snow out of the tree branches softening the scene even more. The tall, vertical trees stand strong against the weather. We tend to think of snowstorms in terms of white with shades of grey but Taylor Canyon is really quite colorful, probably because the trees are so close to the road. The blowing snow was a bonus. For me, this photograph represents everything I love about being in nature during a storm. I'm hoping it will start snowing up here on a regular basis this season. I need to see more of what Mother Nature has for me out there!