Trees in the park

We don’t get much snow around here in Germany’s Ruhr Area. And if we do, it won’t stay long. So, when snow and ice hit us hard recently, I knew I had to be quick to get some photos of my favorite trees in the park.

We even had some snow twice this year. The first time, the snow only lasted a couple of hours before it melted away again. The second time, it stayed for a week. This second time turned my town and especially its parks and lakes into a winter wonderland. I went out to photograph four times on those occasions. I so love taking landscape photos in the snow, so I had a blast. And these are some of the pictures I got from those shoots.

When you want to photograph trees in a public park, you run into a problem relatively quickly. It is often tough to find a suitable angle. Often the trees are surrounded by other plants. If the trees are also on a lake, things get even more complicated because you are even more limited in choosing your perspective and restricted to a side view.

Another problem is the background. It often consists of other trees, so that the main subject is challenging to separate from the environment. All this makes even the most attractive and exciting trees not exactly easy to handle models.

Of course, there are certain tricks and methods to solve these problems. First and foremost, of course, is the aperture, which controls the depth of field. Long exposures to calm waters, or fog, or even a long focal length can be useful to simplify the image and separate backgrounds from the main subject. In the photos shown here, the snow also came to my aid. The snow made the twisted branches stand out more clearly in all their curves and gnarled peculiarities.

The pictures shown here are by no means the last word. They are much more a beginning of a more extended project to document my hometown park and show it in all its familiar beauty. It is a good thing that the park is just around the corner so that I go there can look for new motifs and perspectives.

For the time being, I’ll show you the pictures of the past winter. Enjoy!