Capturing the first snow of 2020. For simplicity is the key.

Snow really is a bit like marmite and you either love it or loathe it with vengeance. As a landscape photographer the snow somehow blends itself into a landscape scene. For it is these scenes which really can provide for something akin to,

“A magical scene that tells a story, one without words and one that is as soothing as it falls”

With snow photography keeping things simple often ends up meaning you get the best results. The county of Nottinghamshire, is one that is avoided by any snowfall, because of its geographical location - however there are some parts of the county which do get the odd dusting of snow and these are at the slightly higher parts of the county, it really is amazing that just a few hundred feet or meters in differential can mean that the county of Nottinghamshire can have snow in one location but head five miles in the other direction and there is no snow.

So the other day I decided to see if any snow had fallen within the county of Nottinghamshire, and just a few miles away, what did I find? The first snow of 2020 that had fallen in the county of Nottinghamshire.

A lone winter tree.

Simplicity of the snow - portrait.

Simplicity of the snow - landscape.

The beauty of snow.

The fallen snow

The winter gate - landscape

The winter gate - portrait

Looking over the hills from here.

The location was just off the M1 at Junction 27, where I had previously captured a stunning yet simple scene, overlooking the rolling hills of Nottinghamshire towards Moorgreen and DH Lawrence county, the area where DH Lawrence used to live. Keeping things simple I just had to capture the scenes of the snowfall over the rolling hills, needless to say that I was incredibly happy with the scenes that I had just captured. As the first snowfall to me echoes the following,

“Winter has officially arrived”

Crisp and cloudy, the snow is just magical to capture and winter time really does lend itself to more simplistic shots, add too much to a winter composition with the snow and your shot will be ruined, instead the simple compositions work best in the winter - but it can also be a challenge in order to capture that perfect winter scene. Work with the snow and the landscape though and try various combinations of compositions and you are sure to get that perfect snow photograph. Just remember that simplicity is the key when photographing the snow or any winter scenes.