It looked like the Canada geese felt right at home as they paddled through the chilly water on this cold winter day. It was just Tuesday that Watson Lake was surrounded by white- but now the beautiful Arizona sunshine has melted most of it, leaving white in just the shadiest areas. I have learned to get out and take photos right away here in Prescott, as more often than not, the snow only lasts for a few days. This image was taken with my iPhone.
On Thanksgiving night, a huge storm blew in- and in the morning we woke up to this view from our front porch:
It continued to snow for most of the day, blanketing everything in 8-10 inches of the beautiful white stuff. It has been frustrating to not be steady enough on my feet yet to walk around with my camera in the snow- but on Saturday, we did take a drive around Prescott. I was able to capture some decent shots with my iPhone from the car or standing beside the car- and I’ll be posting those later.
It snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed . . . . .
and now it’s all gone.
One of the best things about snow is ICICLES!
We could barely make a dent in the snow covering our driveway, our street wasn’t plowed, and we began to think about how we would be able to get out in case of a medical emergency (not that we had any). On Saturday, Lonnie found a guy through our local Facebook page, and we had our driveway plowed in no time (finding a place to dump all the snow was a little tricky!). We discovered that our street at the BOTTOM of the hill was plowed, but even our snow plow hero had a hard time getting his truck up to our house.
By Sunday, the snow on the road started to melt, and we were able to finally get out. Everywhere you go, people are asking each other how they got out and when. I have one friend who finally got out Monday and another who still hasn’t been able to make it out as far as I know. Prescott is used to snow, but usually measured in inches, not feet. Our house is in an area of town where the snowfall is lighter than downtown- some neighborhoods got almost three feet in this storm!
My photo group meets today, and, due to the snow, we are just bringing digital images (no prints- yay!). All our images are to be SNOW related- and there will be SNACKS!
Prescott is ENVELOPED in SNOW! An unusually severe snowstorm hit Northern Arizona Wednesday night and continued throughout the next day. The snow is falling more lightly as of Thursday evening, but we do have approximately 16 inches (and huge drifts!) where we live. We were all prepared for it, but the reality is pretty awe inspiring! Schools closed and a State of Emergency has been declared (seriously!). I think we’ll be happy campers here at home as long as the satellite dish continues to operate.
It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
(driveway shot)
I love to take photographs when it is snowy! The world is covered in a white blanket which eliminates details and simplifies the shapes, creating a toy village effect, at least in my mind. I am a fan of simple compositions in art and photography, and I think I got this shot of the house across the street down to about as simple as I could make it!
It was a white world out there yesterday morning! I knew it was supposed to snow during the night (and then maybe rain later), so when I woke up at 5:00, I didn’t try to go back to sleep. I ventured outside before the sun came up- trying to take photos in the DARK (not too successfully)- and kept going out until it was light enough to shoot without a tripod. The photo below is an iPhone shot- just as good as my Nikon photos, I think. I added a few touches in Photoshop.
I think our February snowstorm was likely the end of our (very mild) winter, although we did have some snow at the beginning of April last year. I have a few more snowy photos I am considering posting here, starting with this one of the rocks and snow at Willow Lake. I began with a straightforward edit, using Photoshop to bring out the detail of the Liesegang rings in the rocks. I have recently just started exploring Topaz Studio, so decided go there to see what I could use on this photo to give it an “extra something”. I played around until I created a softer, more painterly look in the image.
Taken at Willow Lake during the last snowstorm
Another image from that snowy day at Watson Lake
When we walked the paths at Willow Lake during our end of February snowstorm, we were amazed at how saturated the color of the rocks was in the diffused light and falling snow. Here is the view as we walked our usual path through the rocks toward the lake. Not quite Sedona- but still beautiful!
I decided that I should to go out to take snowy pictures when it is actually snowing if I wanted to capture the diffused light and soft palette that I like so much (and miss in Arizona). So Lonnie and I drove to Watson Lake for today’s photo and then had a great time trudging around in the snow at Willow Lake until the snowflakes stopped. Yes, I got a few shots that were blurred by falling snow, but I got a lot of keepers too. And within a couple hours most of the snow was gone.
It snowed yesterday- and it was beautiful!
melinda anderson photography 