Not a ton to say on this one. Just the first snow storm of the year here. I thought we had a chance to receive the highest amounts here but didn't figure we'd actually manage 8 inches out of it. When I woke up, it was 90% rain 10% snow. It was rapidly 50% snow 50% sleet though. Then just as quickly 100% snow. That was a good sign, to actually see that happen so early on in the morning. So I grabbed my stuff and went to my parent's place to play in the snow all day. There are some nice pine trees around there. I climb the hill, then go down over the next hill and see a glow through a further hill and trees. This all through moderate to heavy snow. I was like, what the hell is that. Fire. Odd scene with the snow coming down. I about killed myself running to go to a place to shoot it, as this required going down a long steep hill covered with new snow. Got to running down, to the point you just can't even think of slowing down. Kept thinking, I'm so going to bite it doing this, but didn't. I thought it had to be a house fire when I spotted it from afar through those trees, but nope, farmers burning off something.

I thought there must be a cool shot to get with heavy snow and these crazy thorn trees. So I "climbed" inside the branches, tempting fate some more. Just not much to shoot with the snow in any way. So just took this one looking up it. What an anti-social tree. There are a good number of these trees in that area, all jammed this packed with long spikes of doom.

Fun snow now.

My car was quickly becoming kinda funny.

5 inches horizontal accumulation. That's not a drift side, that is the windward side. There wasn't much wind but what movement there was, it was coming from that direction.

I opened and shut that door at least 5 times without losing that. Granted I was closing it carefully.

Earlier tracks already filling back in.

75% of the time that I stuck this in the yard it read 8. Occasionally you'd get a random 7 or a random 9. By night and in the front yard it was hard to find less than 9 inches. I actually bothered reporting twice during this, through the e-spotter thing, but neither were ever included in their reports. Perhaps because at both times the depth here was higher than the rest. I don't know. Or the thing is broke, even though when I logged back in it said "submitted" so it had it. I just hate bothering on something for nothing. Doesn't encourage bothering later, that's for sure.

Top of this tree pretty much touching the ground.

Up in the hills it felt like you were in fresh mountain snow, like a winter wonderland.

Some areas were harder to get into with all the branches down so far and being so thick. I climbed into this circle of trees and was amazed. It was so cool in there. Pictures never convey it. At the same time, I started to wonder when the fluke mountain lion was going to jump out from those dark sheltered regions in the trees. You just felt, "something is in one of these trees."

I soon began to hear movement from inside the trees.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I think they were Ewoks. I didn't stick around to find out.

Back to the house messing with lights. My dad was running the riding lawn mower with the blade attached to clear their driveway. Kinda cool lighting on the trees.

Zoom

I should have worked at these harder, as there's some real potential here. I also should have found a larger flashlight. I'd use 800 or 1600 ISO and shine the flashlight on the snow stream. Get about 1-2 seconds. Usually he had just moved too much. That combined with my small weak flashlight left these less cool than they could have been.

I got a little better at it as I kept snapping them off. It's a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. I'd try to focus the light on the stream and at the same time be thinking of 1-2 seconds on the cable release and when to even start the shots. If no snow was going out, I'd have to stop it and be ready for right when it started again. And do that with the flashlight on it too.

Let this finish loading if it hasn't. Now this there is a lot of potential with. So cool how the trees are moving in the wind to it. I imagine a person could lock the cable release for 1-2 second shots and just let them go and try to keep the light on the stream while it's going. Then animate them all later. Arrgghhh, now I want another snow storm.

Bottom of driveway with a bit different white balance.

I have a 5 framer of this one. But man, if I had thought about it ahead of time, could have did a whole long time lapse of these, doing the whole area.

The Ewoks or whatever they were started coming back out, so it was time to call it quits.   I may have too much time on my hands.