No Swans This Time

On Sunday I trudged through the snow to get another photo of the Tundra swans. They were closer than last time, which pleased me.

Except they weren't.

For when I got close to them, something seemed wrong.

Sure enough, when I looked through my viewfinder using my telephoto lens, I saw that it was just a bit of swan-sized ice. I probably should have taken a picture of that, just for the record, but I didn't.

There were swans, but they were farther away, and I would have trouble getting to a good spot to photograph them. Besides that, I was a bit pressed for time, so that was that.

I went back on Monday morning to a more accessible spot where the swans have often been seen. Alas! There was nary a bird in sight.

This might have put me in a fowl mood, so to speak, but I made the best of it and took a few photos looking across to the other side of the river. There was still some snow on the trees from last weeks sticky snowfall, which I thought looked quite pretty.

But first, I was attracted to the patch of water that looked blue. For the most part the water was dull due to generally overcast skies, so this patch stood out. By including the bench and tree I felt that I also had some good foreground interest which anchored the photo. Besides, who doesn't love a bench?

Picking up a thread from a previous post, we are able, once again, to see the transition between the frozen and unfrozen parts of the river. If we could see that far, we would see that the water would be frozen for many a mile to the left beyond this view.

The view across the river: two photos from the same spot, once a little more zoomed in than the other. I prefer the second, less zoomed, photo.

I thought that I was done and was walking back toward the car when the near curve in the ice shelf drew my attention. I thought that it would make an interesting foreground and even a bit of a leading line. The reflection of the fallen limb is also a good element in my opinion. I also made a bw version, but I like the colour better, I think.

I was in the nick of time as it turned out, for it soon began to rain. That would wash the snow off the trees and make those woods a very dull gray mass. Unless, we get more sticky snow, it won't be a pretty for quite awhile until new life begins to burst forth over there. I look forward to seeing the soft green as the buds begin to break forth.