weather

  • Mud Lane

    Fog rolls through the beautiful tunnel of trees lining Mud Lane

     

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    I find it unusual that a road winds its way through a beautiful grove of trees and at every turn has a magical scene is named Mud Lane. I had actually never known that this road existed until this day. My daughters wanted to go long board skateboarding down this road that they had gone before with their aunt. I didn’t really want to drive all the way to Waimea, but I wanted to do what they wanted to do and so we set off. Halfway there, around Waikoloa, it began to sprinkle rain, fog began to roll in and I thought for sure it was going to be a bust, but we continued anyway. Maybe the storm is localized I thought. We hit Waimea and we were still socked in. I didn’t really know where this mysterious road was I had heard so much about and I was really relying on my 12 year old for directions, but I did know it was on the rainy side of Waimea… and it was.

    A few miles outside of town we made the turn down Mud Lane and parked just off the road. As the girls took off on the skateboards I was in awe with the beautiful scene of trees lining this narrow road that went on for miles. Fog rolled in and out of the canopy creating a dreamy look. I didn’t care it was raining.

    Photographing the trees came with challenges. I used a telephoto lens to zoom down the tunnel. I was dealing with more camera shake than usual while rain drops steadily fell on the camera. I was soaked and so was the equipment, but I didn’t care. I was thoroughly enjoying every part of this location.

    © Christopher Johnson

     

    Art Prints

  • Snow Storm

    Photograph of a winter forest in Lake Tahoe

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    During a recent trip to Lake Tahoe the weather was stormy for the first week. I have always wanted to shoot the snow falling in a forest, but for some reason I never did during the 6 years I practiced photography in Tahoe. I would always wait until the storm was over before I ventured out. Fresh fallen snow that has blanketed the trees and ground is amazing, but I wanted to capture the storm so I ventured out into the snowy forest.

    It’s not easy to wander the forest in the snow. There isn’t a ‘get there quickly’ while snow is around your waist and large snow drifts blast you in the face; chilling to the bone. I worked extremely hard to go 100 yards and I was cold, but I was in a magical place. The forest was quiet. In the distance I would see the trees vanish as snow swirled off the branches showing me the character of wind as it sweeps through the forest.  Snow continued to fall while covering me and my camera another inch.

    I shot several scenes, but it was at the end of my journey into the forest where I noticed a couple of tall dark trees behind a grouping of small baby trees on the far side of an open field. This composition, in a tight field of view, was the scene and feel I wanted to shoot which captures what this storm felt like. The gusts of wind that would completely cover the trees as it blew towards me. The snow flakes that speckled the atmosphere. The enchanted dark forest with new growth that is covered in a blanket of snow. This was where I decided to capture the moment.

    © Christopher Johnson

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