Been working on some retrospective photo projects. Digging through the archives. Once a week or so, I’ll post an image that’s a bit more “developed” than our usual blog currency. Today, a shot from up in the Sawatch Mountains of Colorado. I’ve always been a fan of black-and-white. Shot B&W a bunch for years. Love the way it gets past the somewhat arbitrary color pallet that color film or digital paint your photos with. Instead, just the raw power of light. Stripping away the fluff.
The challenge with B&W snow shots is to get snow that shows detail but isn’t too grey. Computer display adds challenge, as your brightness/contrast settings can make huge changes to how a photo looks. Anyway, here is an attempt.
 "Backcountry skiing photography") |
| Ski tracks and snow near Independence Pass, Colorado, 2008. Please click image to enlarge. |
This was shot with my Canon A720 point-and-shoot, in manual mode with a low ISO for that crisp look, and exposure control for shooting into the sun as well as working the lens settings so everything stayed in focus. A bit of processing in Photoshop, but really not much. Some of the snow might be a bit dark for my taste, but I’ve seen a few well known photogs that go for this look, so…
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
