Winter in Paradise

Works well. Subtly beautiful.

Mark

Gorgeous light Floris. The touch of pink in the clouds is a great combo with the icy blues. Beautiful image of my favorite mountain.

When you have light like this, sometimes just framing it as well as you can is enough.
That you have done. Looks like you're settling in real well, and congratulations on having one of your images chosen by 'Nature's Best'!

Wonderful shot, Floris! The light is geat, and you did the best you could. The trees look fine to me.

So, you're up in Seattle now? Stop by CANP every once in a while to say 'hi'.

--P

I see what you mean about the trees, but the image works anyway. The light above is so sweet, the trees make a nice lead-in even without ideal spacing. I like it a lot.

From my perspective it's just nice seeing a view of the mountain in winter. A nice change of pace, even if all the elements aren't quite perfect.

Max

Sweet Floris! Really nice light on the mountain. I agree with your take on the trees, but still a beauty!

Glad you shared this, Floris. That is some beautiful light and it really is a wonderful winter scene. That snow looks really deep!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

This is an absolutely gorgeous take on the Rainier, Floris. The weather conditions and light make this very special. My only thought is that overall, the contrast seems a bit flat. The comp and colors pretty much make this a non-issue, but there is a sense that this lacks the "crispness" one might be able to pull out of these well-defined elements.

Thanks folks!

John - yep, pretty well settled in now. Fortunately I spent a lot of time up here 2 years ago, so I'm already pretty familiar with the area in general.

Nick - yea.. it was real deep! About 2 feet of fresh snow from last week. I skied in (mostly because I had new skis, which needed to be used!). I think it was the right choice given the amount of snow (rather than snowshoes).. but I really wish I had had skins with me too. Tough going with a backpack!

Tony - thanks for the feedback! I did take down the contrast in the trees quite a bit, because I thought it added to the mysterious atmosphere. I'll try putting some back in, perhaps selectively, that might help create some more separation too.

The delicate light in the clouds is wonderful. I love the way you have balanced it with the foreground trees and kept the colors so natural through out the frame.

It has a really subtle beauty to it, not earthbreaking but quite nice.

VERY pretty shot! TK already mentioned one of my nits, the other one is even more picky but i'll point it out--the trees touching the ridge-line create a small amount of tension that is contrary to the mood here. I know 'perfect' composition is extrememly tough to get down in conditions like this, with all the excitement of just soaking in the show, but its what seperates your best shots from your also-rans.

Thanks Stan - yep, that is a completely valid nit. The heart of the problem is that when I got to camp I couldn't see the mountain, and by the time it poked out of the clouds the light was already perfect... so no scouting time! This was literally 20 yards from my tent. Scouting on skis in 2 feet of fresh snow with a tripod in one hand and a pole in the other is frustrating..

I should have taken a reading off the map with my compass and scouted with that line.. next time! I found a much better comp the following morning (almost perfect conditions, but just a little too much cloud cover during sunrise itself). I'll have to come back another time!

This works well for me. I really like the contrast between the gentle warmth of the clouds at mountain and the icy blues of the trees.

Gorgeous light Floris! Love the pink in the clouds. Actually, I enjoy the trees as well, seeing as how that's a totally alien world to us Floridians!

Floris this is stunning! I would love to see a large print of this. To change the perspective of the trees being too close and therefore a distraction (which doesn't bother me by the way) you could have cropped the bottom 40% of the image out, leaving the tops of the trees to frame the mountain. Leaving it as it is, I feel as if I could walk into that landscape. Excellent work and effort!

Well done Floris I recently tried moving around in deep snow at the "magical sunset time", and understand what you are talking about !! tough to move around to get the right comp !

Sweet light and a sublime image of MR.

Great winter scenic, Floris! I don't have any trouble with the
blending of the trees. Wodnerful light and color.

This one is a beauty Floris. I think you did great with the comp given the chaos of the trees.

Talk about a winter wonderland. That fresh coat of snow and nice light really makes this special. I might favor an ever so slight crop off the top just below the blue sky portion of the top cloud. Not sure why but a scroll crop of that feels better to me. Very nice work Floris! I don't think I would be missing Cali too soon with scenes like this.

Fantastic, Floris. The light and color are gorgeous. I really like how the forest is presented as the lower contrast and the cool tones I find quite natural; gives the viewer a real sense of the cold, snow covered forest. Superb.

That's some sweet light, Floris. I like this very much!

While I wouldn't go so far as to say this was unique. I will say I can't remember seeing something like this comp recently. I think the light is magical.

Chris

Nice shot, the color blue is just right for the mood.

Wow, Floris
perfect time and incredible place

Just stunning!
Beautiful Floris

I pretty much agree with you on this one, Floris. The light is divine, the comp is so-so. Still a nice image, though. Sometimes ya just gotta post it regardless, right?

Sublime light and color. The foreground is just not working for me though. The middle and background are great.

Works for me...and then some! I love it.

Congrats on the nice Rainer light.

I check the Rainier webcam a few times every day (just dreaming about time off work) and it’s plain to see that it is clouded over most of the time.

Beautiful Image Floris, winter scenes are so hard to do right but I think you nailed it. I think sometimes people forget thats its a photograph...I personally like the low contrast.

Gorgeous light, I like that you even got a bit of color in the fog below the mountain top. I don't mind the trees at all, for me their "denseness" and cool light acts as a counterbalance to the clouds and the sunlit mountaintop. Very well done, as usual.

I love the close set trees and their relationship with the sunlight mountain and the sky. Very lovely and creative, Floris.

Beautiful Floris. Can't fault much of anything, but I am wishing for more! Perhaps a broader view to let the forest breath a little bit? But that's rather picky. Gorgeous conditions and color. I love the slight hint of pink in the clouds and peak.

Looks like you're adjusting to your new digs quite well!

Lon

I see what you mean about the trees, but it's still a beautiful shot. The light is fantastic.

nice winter scenery great light

I sure most photographers would agree snow and good light is paradise - I certainly get frustrated when it snows and I'm stuck at work. Nice work Floris.

Ian