One Last Look at Winter

I have been waiting to get this image up on the site. This one winter shot saved my photography season. I got up at the crack of dawn after we got about twelve inches of snow. I hopped in the Jeep and headed the mile and a half down to the Middle Patuxent River where it runs past the town of Savage. After a short hike down the snowy trail, I decided to descend the steep bank of the river and crawl out on a rock to take a couple of panoramas. I know I wasn't solo free climbing El Capitan, but I was crawling out on a deep snow covered rock perched 10 feet over a cold, rocky river that was flowing swiftly that morning — all with my camera mounted on the tripod. I must confess to using the tripod and camera as a walking stick a few times as I gently scooched my way out on to the rock. So I set up the tripod and shot for a half hour or so. The color of the water is exactly as it looks in the picture. The snow had fallen so thickly that a slushy slurpee of green water was flowing down stream. This panoramic shot was taken with 2 rows of 10 images. I think I figured out that it was about an 80 megapixel (15,700 x 5100 pixels)image when all is said and done. I had a good time that morning. The snow had half melted by noon and was almost completely gone two days later.