THE COLOR OF WINTER

Birds are circling nearby my house. I’m reading a dark comedy about the Apocalypse and the trees are close to bare. The death of fall is upon us, the coming of winter approaches. But these are not the signs I generally look for to signal winter’s grand entrance. How do I know winter is so close? I start pulling color from my photos.

Now, you could say, “Whoa, slow down Kerri. There’re still plenty of leaves on the trees and there’s a brilliance of orange and yellow and red in the air.” Yeah. I know. I see it. But as I believe that I lack the artistic view of a landscape photographer, this does me no good. So yeah, if you’re big on landscapes, the land is still stunning. Fact is, every time I drive North on I-95, I marvel at the light dancing across the color of the leaves (okay, that’s really more when I’m a passenger than when I’m driving – on I-95, you just don’t take that chance).

But I digress. Where were we? Oh yeah, pulling color from photos. You see, I like the lay of shadows this time of year. I like the bare limbs. I like the dark side of winter. I look at a scene now and I know if the final result will be color or black and white before I even shoot. Used to be I stayed inside all winter, plopped down in front of the computer or TV, but since my ventures into black and white and tints, winter brings out the dark side of my artistic pallet. I know, it’s not to everyone’s taste, but that’s art.

So let me share a few shots from my latest fall excursion (I actually was looking for color). Don’t worry; I popped in a bit of color so as not to rush the season.

And that book – the dark comedy about the Apocalypse - Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. A lovely read for winter. When you get into your own black and white winter doldrums, this book will put a smile on your face (if it doesn’t make you laugh out loud).