Winter in My Neighbourhood: a Photo Essay

Author:: Simon Lam

Simon's background is in biomedical and health science. He also writes about fashion, nature, and photography.

Winter Scenes Close to Home

Not very far from my house, there are two wooded areas rich with trees, shrubs, and wild plants. One of these forested areas even has a stream running through it. I find many subjects to photograph in these locations. In this photo essay, we will of course see snow and ice since it is winter. We will also see a bit of colour. There will be bright and vibrant reds, as well as muted orange-browns. There will be various textures too. We will see several other elements of design including lines. There will be repeating elements in the photos as well. I hope you will enjoy looking at these winter scenes that were all taken not far from my front steps.

Beauty Close By

I'm lucky to live in a neighbourhood surrounded by two wooded areas just steps from my house. South of my house is a park that has an attached area filled with trees. Northwest of my place is another woodland with a stream running through it. These forested areas offer wonderful subjects from trees, shrubs, and wild plants to photograph. Here's my photo essay of winter scenes found in my neighbourhood. All these photographs were taken in either January or February of 2018.

Mountain Ashes

I believe this photo shows Mountain Ashes. You can quite easily see the red berries on this small tree. I love that it brings a dash of vibrant colour to winter's often dreary grey and white hues. I usually take much tighter shots than this, but here I wanted to show the many berries found on this tree. These are often food for local wildlife.

Mountain Ashes

Goldenrod

The photo below depicts what I think is Goldenrod. I love the sharp detail in the cluster of flowers. The background is quite interesting as well. You can see that there is a gradient of colours from top to bottom. The top is very dark and then transitions to a lighter brown. The browns then slowly turn into the white of the snow. This gradient is quite nice.

Goldenrod

Nice Gradient In The Background
Simon Lam

Snowy Fallen Branches

You can't have winter without snow. Pictured in this photo is snow-covered branches that have fallen to the ground. The photo looks a bit busy with all the branches running every which way. However, the lines from the bare branches are interesting because they take your eyes to different directions in the photo.

This entangled pile of branches could serve a purpose. It could be a protected shelter for small creatures.

Snowy Fallen Branches

Peeling Bark

Not very far from the snow-covered pile of branches is this tree with its bark peeling off. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is, but the peeling bark got my interesting. I love all the different textures in this photo. You have the smooth flesh of the tree, and the rougher texture of the peeling bark. They are nicely juxtapose against each other. The dark markings on the flesh of the tree is also very fascinating.

Peeling Bark

There Is A Juxtaposition Of Rough And Smooth Textures
Simon Lam

Collection of Tree Trunks

There are lots of trees in this one wooded area. You can appreciate the numerous trees in the photo below. There is a strong sense of linearity in this photo. I converted the image to black and white to enhance the lines in this photo. From thick to thin, these tree trunks create lines with variable thickness. The tree lines almost resemble a barcode in a way.

Collection of Tree Trunks

Lines Created From Tree Trunks Resemble A Barcode
Simon Lam

Frozen Stream

In one of the wooded areas, there is a stream that runs along the trees. You can see that the stream is frozen over in the photo below. What I like about this photo is the repeating tree element. You have the one large tree in the foreground on the right. Then there is another tree behind it in the midground. And finally, there is a third tree in the background. The number three is well represented here.

Frozen Stream

Repeating Tree Element Is Present In This Photo
Simon Lam

Rising

Finally, we come to our last photo below. What I love about this photo is the colours in it. I like the beautiful blue sky, and the orange-brown leaves. You can see in this photo that there is a strong diagonal design element. The leaves are shown rising diagonally to the top. This creates an interesting graphic display.