Snow Day
I don’t find snow beautiful or relaxing. When I see snow, I see extra work; shoveling, salting, scraping, parking wars – I see icy and un-shoveled sidewalks. The ill-preparedness and laziness of others become a problem for those around them. So, I am not capable of taking photos that capture the “beauty” of snow. But – I do have to admit, in the first hours during a snow fall, before the work and negative feelings began, I do find it interesting to look at. I do think it offers an appealing backdrop to a city, especially an old city like Lancaster. So, when the snow started a few weeks ago, I grabbed my camera and hit the streets.
The first photo I took was right outside my home. A man was walking in the middle of the road, carrying a bag. I don’t know anything about the man or what he was carrying, but he had to be somewhere with whatever was in that bag, and a snowstorm wasn’t about to stop him. It was a great ice breaker for me and the camera.
My second photo captured an old building standing stoic against the fierceness of the falling snow. The building, known as Hotel Fulton, has some local history. It was erected in the early 1900s and has served as a hotel, club, bar and most recently a restaurant. For the past few years, it has stood empty – maybe one day it will re-open. But, to me, it’s a beautiful example of early 1900’s architecture, only accentuated by a blizzard.
Now, I’m not gonna go through every photo – but this was the theme. What’s interesting here? What’s attention grabbing? What shows the snow for what it is – an uncontrollable act of mother nature contrasting with a city’s infrastructure?
I didn’t set out to take beautiful pictures, just interesting ones. And I think I achieved that.
