{"id":11274,"date":"2021-02-13T08:16:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T13:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/richardlewisphotography.com\/?p=11274"},"modified":"2021-02-13T08:16:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T13:16:44","slug":"snow-in-the-pine-barrens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/richardlewisphotography.com\/2021\/02\/13\/snow-in-the-pine-barrens\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow in the Pine Barrens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seeing the Familiar in a Different Way<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before we get started, on Friday February 26, at 7pm, I’ll be the featured presenter at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance’s Lenses on the Pinelands online event. At the event I’ll be presenting the the work of some of the amazing photographers who photograph the New Jersey Pinelands. Learn\u00a0 more and register here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Snow in the New Jersey Pine Barrens isn’t common, so with three straight days of it comes photographic opportunities. Although the accumulation in the Pines was light compared to surrounding areas, it still turned the Pine Barrens into a different landscape. Below are the results of getting to see the familiar in a little different way.<\/p>\n

Day 1 – Snow Falling On Cedars<\/h3>\n

Sorry for the movie\/book reference. With the snow falling, I headed to a favorite Cedar Swamp. Usually snow barely makes it to the ground in these swamps because of the thick tree canopy. What does happen is the ground and trees will get glazed with snow, especially the trees at the edge of a swamp.<\/p>\n

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Winter Cedars by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Snow Glazed Cedars 1 by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Snow Scene by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Day 2 – Still Snowing<\/h3>\n

The second day of the storm continued with high winds and a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. My wife and I originally had an idea where we wanted to go, but as we got closer the rain was outpacing the snow. Knowing an area means being able to come up with a Plan B<\/em> on the fly.\u00a0 Plan B was heading to Pakim Pond in Brendan Byrne State Forest. This state forest is known for many things. One is the cute little Pakim Pond which is as close as the Pine Barrens landscape gets to being called cute.<\/p>\n

The Pond looked very different that day. The storm made for a less genteel scene. I’ve never noticed this composition before.\u00a0 The misty precipitation created a series of nice layers along the shoreline of the pond. It was also interesting to see how the Pine Barrens’ tea colored water was absorbed into the ice creating a nice subtle color variation.<\/p>\n

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Pakim Pond in the Storm by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Another interesting place in Brendan Byrne State Forest is the White Pine forest. White Pines are not native to the area. They were planted in a couple of locations during the depression era probably under the notion that a pine tree is a pine tree. Native or not, these trees can be very photogenic. Here a small White Pine is flanked by two native Pitch Pine trees.<\/p>\n

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Intimate Snowscape by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Day 3 – A Sun Pillar Finale<\/h3>\n

When my friend Rafal asked me to join him on a sunset shoot, I almost turned him down. After two days of photographing snow in cold, wet and windy conditions, staying home in a warm house seem like a great idea. However the forecast looked like there could be some nice light at sunset, so off I went. We spent a cloudy afternoon wandering around the Whitesbog area watching the sky hoping for conditions to change enough for a nice sunset. We were not disappointed.<\/p>\n

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Snow Glazed Landscape by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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As the sun went below the horizon, a beam of light shot up in the sky. This phenomena is called a Sun Pillar<\/em>. It\u00a0happens when sunlight passes through ice crystals in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

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Sun Pillar by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Surprise! – Another Snow Day<\/h3>\n

A few days after the three day storm, as I was writing this post, we had another short, but intense snow storm. Here is what we found wandering around the Pine Barrens during that one.<\/p>\n

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Whiteout by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pine Barrens Snowstorm by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Alien Cedarscape by Richard Lewis 2021<\/p><\/div>\n

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Photographing Snow<\/h3>\n

Here are some pointers for photographing snow:<\/p>\n