Like many mornings out with the camera, I allow the conditions to dictate where and what I will shoot. On this particular morning, the temperatures dropped and snow began to fall. So, I decided to head to one of my local locations to shoot the many little islands out on the lake.

I arrived at my location excited for the morning of photography ahead of me. Snowy conditions like this are one of my favorite conditions to take photos in. The landscape is blanketed with white, and the sounds all around are muffled by the falling snow. Although these conditions are beautiful, they can pose a great challenge to shoot in. On this morning the falling snow was very wet and melted as soon as it made contact with my gear. This meant I had to work quickly and carefully to make sure my camera and lens didn’t get completely soaked. After a rather tough battle with the conditions, and several different compositions, I landed on a very simple and very minimal shot that suited the conditions well.

Now that winter is nearly here, I will be more and more motivated to get out there with my camera. I wouldn’t be lying if I said I usually lose motivation to take photos during the month of November. It’s the gap between my two favorite times of the year to take photos. The fall colors are over, yet there is still no snow to be seen, making most of the scenes local to me quite boring to shoot. But this is quickly changing, snow is beginning to fall, and soon I’ll be back out in the stillness and solitude of the winter landscape.