The final throes of winter

Winter is on it’s way out. A bit of a confident claim – but in spite of the rather wicked cold snap we can’t avoid tha fact that the days are getting longer and the sun is getting higher in the sky. So – just this last chance really to snaffle a few more winter images for the portfolio.

One shot I really wanted was arriving geese. I managed departing geese last time I went but this time there were no geese at all – they were all off in the fields somewhere. Quite a few hooper swans though – which I associate with winter as much as any  geese. No matter how white they seem when seen in isolation they always look slightly grubby against the snow. These will be stocking up for their northerly migration to Iceland – 500 miles+ over open ocean. Interestingly they occur in Japan as well in the winter, but as far as I can tell they appear much less often than geese as seasonal words in haiku.

   

Walking to Iceland is not really an option!!

Elsewhere the weather has been cold enough to find some interesting ice shots – the first couple on the local fells the second on my garden pond. Both pairs were inspired by some of the winter shots in Maeda’s “A Tree, A Blade of Grass”. The second two in particular talk of transition to me – the first from winter to spring with green leaves trapped by thinning ice, the second from autumn to winter

  

On the subject of transition – from winter to spring – I caught these on an early morning walk at the weekend. The sun was just melting the frost on one side of these tufts of grass to make a rather striking image of seasonal change.

 

And that’s it really – I suspect that my chances of icy cold shots are done for another year. I’m also beginning to work out a portfolio theme in my head which is rather more defined than simply seasonal symbols from haiku. That has served a a very useful starting point and  - to be honest – as a useful tool to help me , but I suspect what I’m really interested in is seasonal change and pictures with a sense of transition or time in them. More on this I another post – I had a bit of a light-bulb moment a few days back. My thoughts are jotted down in my paper log and I need to work them up a bit before bringing them here.