Photobycate Weblog

A Mid Winter Snow Fall

Ah snow, I love it. As a city dweller I don’t have to shovel it, plow it or drive in it but, I do get to play in it. On winter wings, Blizzard Nemo swooped down on the east coast Friday night and when I woke up Saturday morning, it had left an 8″ thick layer of pure white snow on streets of a Astoria. My first impulse was to run outside and take photos but the sky was still grey and I stayed in my jammies until late afternoon when the sky turned deep blue and the sun was just thinking about slipping down toward the horizon. The temperature was in the twenties so I donned multi-layers of warm clothing, grabbed the camera and off I went to Astoria Park.

When I got to the park, it was bubbling over with kids of all ages shrieking with excitement as I watched them slip-sliding down the “slopes” on all manner of  brightly colored snow sleds and tubes. There were even a  few intrepid people on cross-country skis.  The wind lifted loose snow from the ground and smokey clouds of it drifted through the air and peppered tree bark and branches. Park benches and water fountains were buried beneath avalanches of plowed snow and icicles hung from the frozen arches of the Hellgate Bridge. I trudged through the park down to the river’s edge where the strong winds were biting and making it difficult to keep a firm steady grip on my camera. The water a dark, frigid, swirling body made me shiver just to look at it as I photographed along the rocky snow covered banks.

After an hour or so the setting sun cast a golden hue on the white snow and turned frosted icicles to a clear glass reflecting the sun’s glow.  I captured sun rays shooting out from the silhouettes of the Triboro and Hellgate Bridges and the long end-of-day shadows on untouched snow, blanketing Astoria Pool. At day’s end, I again turned my camera on the Hellgate Bridge which, by then, was enveloped in a dusky purple-blue light with the last of the suns yellow rays running through the horizon. Just beautiful.

February 12, 2013 - Posted by Cate Franklyn | Photography | Astoria Park, blizzard, Bridges, children, cold, East River, freezing, fun, Hellgate, ice, nemo, playing, sledding, snow, storm, sunsets, Triboro, winter