Lovely Winter

It's cold now, and dark, soon it's the darkest time of the year - when you can see signs like "be ware of falling icicles" or hear the snowplough scraping past your house in the morning.

Soon Christmas will be here, though judging by the stores, it has been here for a while - they started filling their windows with decorations in October. I just hate that, as if winter wasn't long enough without them having to remind me even before the leaves stared falling...

There are some things I like about winter though, like mulled wine and gingerbread cookies. Or snuggling up in a sofa with a blanket watching a movie, taking long hot baths, or when all the advent candle sticks get removed from storage, and every window glows homely through the dark nights.

To Mr and me, winter is special. Even though we both prefer summer. The first time we met was a November evening and the first time we said "I love you" was the midwinter solstice. It's a time of year when we remember those early crazy romantic days of our relationship and reminisce.

An other thing I like about this time of year is that "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy movies, as well as "The Hobbit" movies has had their premieres then. I've always looked forward to seeing them, though this time I'm a bit worried as to how they will present the last part...

You see, I'm one of those hard core Tolkien admirers who don't see kindly to changes. Especially when, in my opinion, brilliant bits of the book are removed and replaced with exaggerated action scenes, concocted love stories or recurring characters who do not belong in the story. To me "The Hobbit" has always been more about courage than anything else, and while I think that they did a good job capturing that in the first movie, I found the second one lacking that particular quality. But I digress, this was supposed to be about winter after all, so... what else...

I love the beauty of winter - the snow, the frost and the icicles. Shooting them is so much fun even though I hate the cold, I get very enthusiastic when snow falls. These shots are not from today though, they're from almost two years ago when I was lucky enough to find some gorgeous ice-formations down by the pier.

Shooting snow is hard. I've taken many walks with my camera in the woods and come home with "nothing" - the light conditions are very tricky - since this is a dark time of year. The shots often lack that "zest" that I like and end up "flat". The trick is not to shoot on overcast days, which is easily said than done. Though sometimes, in the end of the winter, when the days are a bit brighter, you might end up lucky anyway, like when I shot these. I look forward to the snow this year. I hope I will get the opportunity to do some serious shooting.

/Mrs Hjort