Snowy Night

Over the course of two days last week, my region got nearly a foot of snow. If my recollections are correct, that amount of accumulation was the most I’ve ever seen since we settled in the West almost two decades ago.

On the second day of the heavy snowfall, I got out with my little Canon EOS M50 to do a little daytime photography. Since the snow was still coming down quite hard, I didn’t want to take a chance damaging my non-weather-sealed M50, so I ended up shooting under overhangs and awnings. But by evening, the snowfall let up, and I wandered around—no, trudged around—this time with my Canon EOS R8 and 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Out of all the photos I took that evening, I think I’m most fond of one I took of a street scene under a light.

There is something about streetlight shining down on a snowy street scene that I find rather compelling. Perhaps my inspiration came from Marion Post-Wolcott’s 1940 image of the center of town in Woodstock, Vermont. I first came across this image years ago when I discovered the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives collection, which is available online through the Library of Congress. There is some incredible photography there, and it’s well worth browsing through.