February was a very up and down month for photography. The weather here in Michigan continued it's trend of not so great wintry conditions. We had a few good snow showers but nothing too exciting. The temperatures fluctuated from high to low so most of the snow that did fall didn’t stay for longer than a week. These kind of conditions are not very inspiring to me, so as a result I struggled to capture many photos that I liked. In my January Photo of the Month blog post I talked about how I visited a new location for the first time and saw a lot of potential in it. A week after taking my January photo of the month at this new location I was back for more.

On my previous visit what really stood out to me were all the trees lined on top of the large hills overlooking the main hiking area. On this cold and gloomy February morning I walked the bases of these hills looking for a composition of a particular cluster of trees. After some time of walking back and forth down the trail under these hills I settled on a composition. I knew on location due to the gray and overcast conditions any photo I took would most likely turn out to be a black and white. With this in mind I tried to compose this photo in a more minimalist fashion. Placing the trees on the bottom right portion of the frame while leaving the slight curve of the hill to lead up into the empty space of the sky. This style of minimalist black and white photography has always appealed to me and it’s a style I’m always trying to perfect.

I’m really pleased with how this photo turned out. I really like its simplicity and the calm feeling it gives me. In a way, trying to create a calm, minimalist photo causes me to be more calm on location. When life becomes stressful and chaotic I gravitate to trying to create this style of photo. Trying to create these calm and peaceful photos helps to calm my mind and I hope the minimalist photos I take also give someone else the same feelings. This is one of my favorite parts about photography, how you can express an emotion through a photo and have that feeling felt by someone else.