January 2022 - The snowy garden

We had snow last year in January! In some ways the fact that it doesn’t happen often, and doesn’t last long either, is a bit sad. Snow looks beautiful and can be enjoyed by everybody. (My dog, Poppy absolutely adores the snow and spends an inordinate amount of time rubbing her back and her ears in it).

But it is also cold (d’uh!), and if I had to make a personal choice between coldness and warmth there wouldn’t be any hesitation in saying that I prefer to be warm. I much prefer the weather I experienced in South Africa - with temperatures of up to about 40C in the Kruger. 

However, I don’t live there, New Malden has been my home for nearly 40 years, and cold weather is part and parcel of living in the UK. So, I try to make the most of it and photograph the snowy scenes around me. This photo is my back garden, with the summer house in the background and our laurel tree in the foreground. (I know it looks like a Christmas tree that is falling down – but it isn’t!). It was important to me to make sure that I showed not only the tree with the snow on its branches, but also the context it is in. So, you can see the snowflakes falling, the blurred shape of the summer house and some of the surrounding trees. 

Even though the main focus of the picture is the snowy laurel, it would be a pretty dull image if that was all the picture contained. Sometimes (not always, mind) it is essential to have that context, the background, in order to make a photo work. As here, it doesn’t matter if they are out of focus. They need to be there to fill it out. While much of my photography these days tends towards a more minimalist approach, there are times when that just doesn’t work!