Here's one to beat the summer heat! I enjoyed seeing attendees at a recent art fair, where I was exhibiting, feinting its cold feelings as a reprieve from the brutal heat during a recent heat wave.

Photo is of fresh snow in a local conservation area. It would not last long so I had to get out with the camera while there was fresh snow and little wind. Winter is normally pretty drab here and these conditions are rare. I was drawn to the large pillow-shaped piles of snow on the boulders in this creek creating little snow-covered islands. With a fresh blanket of snow the scene was simplified to this dark amorphous shape of the creek cradled by snow. The fresh snow in the trees provided the atmosphere. Focus stacked foreground and midground, but not background to allow it to fall off and add to the atmosphere. The background was less important anyway and there was rick of footprints in the snow being a distraction.

I titled the photo Spellbound after Emily Bronte's poem which described the scene and my feelings during it so well.