Winter Grass and Shadows
So the question arises is this beach sand or snow. It’s not hard to tell with out the low winter sun casting long shadows across the snow surface.
I love divergent shadows on snow. High contrast environments paired with really wide lenses show the divergence much better than lenses less so. I really like to think like a mouse when I set these shots up. Literally I imagine what it looks like down there and realize there is a possibility for divergent shadows. I will chase those and work with the sunset to compose the image. Stark was my point here.
Winter’s grip is firm here currently with a good amount of snow concentrated off the sides of the ridges. Where clumps of grass, sage or Yucca plants rise above ground level, snow accumulates in 3 foot high drifts. Our driveway has inches of glaze ice on it currently. I resort to walking around with ice cleats on my boots in the backcountry. They keep me off my A** walking as much as I do along the ridges. There are a lot of spots with very tricky footing.
Some deer obviously came by and took off all the seed heads of this grass patch. Cattle never made it to this spot this year so it was wildlife doing the grazing. I’m already having deer start to eat the hay bales we have piled up to feed the Corriente Herd. Ranchers feed a LOT of wildlife in our activities.
Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.
Title: Winter Grass and Shadows