Shovel at the Ready
02 January 2014 -- 2/365
North Providence, Rhode Island
Okay, this is what happens when you plan your photo around a weather forecast. Watch any US news channel and you'll hear the warnings of this horrendous snow storm that's supposed to blanket the northeast. The forecast called for snow falling at the rate of 2 inches per hour tonight. Well, that's exactly what I wanted to capture. I love photos of snow falling at night, highlighted in headlamps or streetlights. Near blizzard conditions would have been perfect. With that in mind, I waited as long as I could for today's photo. All that's missing is the snow. Oh, one of my neighbors has her snow shovel on her porch, all ready to go. What's falling outside, though, would hardly qualify as a light flurry. Total snowfall so far, after about 14-hours of snowing: approximately 1.25 inches. For that, however, they cancelled school, let businesses out of work early, and implemented parking bans. Good luck trying to find bread and milk on the shelves of any store in Rhode Island. At least this neighbor has her shovel ready.
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, and boost white. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
This is a beautiful photo--as always. I think it is more unusual than falling snow, though I'm hoping you will be able to capture that as well. It tells a story to me--someone has learned the hard way that the best place for the snow shovel is right by the door!
