I have been scouting out various spots to take river photos, knowing the snow was coming, and I wouldn't have much time before the rivers would freeze over. After making a game plan, it was a waiting day for the snow to come. And come it did. We got about 7 inches of very heavy snow one Friday night. I woke up on Saturday to the snow still coming down, and 40mph winds, making outside a very unpleasant place.
I knew the best time to get snow photos was the morning, before it blew off the trees. So I shoveled out only my side of the driveway (after returning from my trip, I shoveled the other half) so I could jump in my SUV and be one of the few crazies on the road.
I spent a good 2 hours driving around that morning, with very few photos to show of it (remember the 40mph winds?), and very nearly getting stuck a couple times. As I got close to my house, I took a road that I never planned to take, because my GPS said it crossed a river (Sugar River to be exact). I pulled up to the unimpressive looking bridge, jumped out of the car with my camera and a microfiber cloth to wipe off the blowing snow, and tromped through drifts of snow that came up to my knees to shoot some low perspective shots on the south side of the road. These came out ok, but with the blowing snow and grasses at the bank, I didn't get anything I really loved.
So I dejectedly walked back to my car, opened the door, and nearly got in. Suddenly, I realized that even though I couldn't walk down to the river on the north side of the road, I could see what kind of shot I could grab from the bridge. I sure am glad I did, as the taller trees here prevented the wind from blowing so much, and the snow was really stuck to the branches. Plus, the river looked like glass, providing some wonderful reflections of the new snow. Lesson learned, always look behind you because you never know what the scene looks like from the other side.
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Really a beautiful shot. I am not sure exactly which stream this is, but my favorite place on the planet are the spring creeks between Madison and La Crosse. Just returned from Westby two weeks ago.
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