HDR Photography
Winter finally arrived (properly) to Hartford, Connecticut, and with it, Bushnell Park was transformed into perhaps its most charming version of itself. The tiny silhouettes of people among the glowing lamp posts and decorated trees brings to mind an urban Narnia.
Perhaps the best mark of a place I love is one that keeps its charm throughout the whole year. I only really enjoyed the North Country during the blaze of autumn foliage and I only really enjoy Coachella Valley during the mild temperatures and wet(ter) weather of winter. By comparison, Trinity College is beautiful at every moment of the year. A multilayer of serious snow arrived this weekend and finally brought Trinity into Winter Mode, confirming that this place is basically always fantastical.
Given their altitudes, I’m not surprised that clouds and mountains would be friends. I’m a little more interested that only a single set of peaks was deemed worthy of a cloud, while its nearby neighbors remain cloudless.
A big, dramatic sky after a fresh snow matches the mood of St. Lawrence’s chapel.
April Fool’s Day played a prank on the reemerging plants of the North Country, dropping ice and snow onto green grass and growing buds.
This tiny warm spot near both a vent (for heat) and a downspout (for ample rainwater) continues to have green grass while the rest of the campus is locked beneath a blanket of snow.
The classic winter picture of clean, fresh snow and bright blue skies seems much easier to come by, ironically, under less-wintery conditions near the beginning or end of the season. Under the snow at the edge of the patch in the foreground, you can see that the grass is still green.
Mohonk Mountain House’s dock is normally busy with canoes and paddle-boats during the warmer months, but that’s… uh… not the case when ice and snow encrust the wood.
Winter in the North Country grips the homes and streets of Canton, New York.
The campus previously lay fallow under a winter break snow crust, but we once again (just as in August) successfully managed to safely return the students to campus for another semester at St. Lawrence University.
Students tell me that St. Lawrence’s campus reminds them of Narnia, and I have to admit I find the comparison particularly apt on snowy Saturday mornings when it’s time to get an egg sandwich.
As I did in the past, I captured a time sequence of views of St. Lawrence University’s Payson and Piskor Halls (with the ultimate goal of making a dynamic desktop for macOS.) A steady tripod and a very large lens skirt made this possible.
I: Morning
II: Late Afternoon
III: Sunset
IV: Blue Hour
V: Night
VI: Dawn
Unlike the generally empty dorms of St. Lawrence over winter break, Sykes is home to many of our international students who remain on campus. The traditional architecture seems natural under a crust of ice, with a sort of “Harry Potter staying at Hogwarts” vibe.
Though St. Lawrence’s students are arriving to campus in a safety-mandated trickle over the next few weeks instead of a single-day flood, there’s still a sense of the snow-blanketed halls coming back to life. I love the energy of a college campus in full swing.
After days of rain, show finally settled over the North Country on Christmas afternoon. With little bits of grass poking above the snowy hillsides, I’m reminded of a sort of low-rent English countryside equivalent.
Decaseconds 