Let it snow! Area photographers capture winter beauty in WNC
For every degree of cold or inconvenience, wintry weather adds two of beauty. Members of Waynesville’s Lens Luggers photography club kept their cameras at the ready as below freezing temperatures and above-normal snowfall transformed Western North Carolina into a winter wonderland. We hope you’ll enjoy some of their favorite images and the stories of how they came to be.
Frozen cascade by Bob Grytten (above)
Bob Grytten was out with his camera, exploring a series of cascades along N.C. 215 in the Pisgah National Forest, when he placed this scene in his viewfinder. Plenty of ice formations decorated the North Fork of the French Broad River that day, but these ones grabbed his attention.
“They’re like upside down ice cubes,” he said.
Looking Glass Falls by Chuck Coburn
The partially frozen falls have been a magnet for shutterbugs over the past few weeks, so Chuck Coburn wanted his image to be different from the typical snapshot. He framed the shot to isolate the falls from all of the trees and movement of water surrounding it, taking care to include the ice on its sides. He also chose a slow shutter speed to keep the water smooth. Those choices resulted in one more installment in a productive winter photography season.
“While a lot of people may complain about the cold weather, I was very happy with it,” he said.
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Peeking by Diane Jettinghoff
Diane Jettinghoff was excited to land this shot of a tufted titmouse poking its head from a birdfeeder at her cabin, outside of Tuckasegee. The songbirds are regulars at birdfeeders, especially in the wintertime, exerting their authority over smaller species and especially speaking up when sunflower seeds are the food in question. But while the tufted titmouse is a relatively common bird, the opportunity to snag this shot as snowflakes fell in the background was not.
“I literally went into one little room there in our cabin and opened the window to get that shot. It was very cold,” Jettinghoff said.
Ice climber by Beverly Slone
During a Feb. 1 photo shoot, Beverly Slone stumbled upon a group of ice climbers scaling the ice with their instructor. She came away with an extensive inventory of images, but Slone had no trouble naming this her favorite.
“She’s just determined, concentrating on what she’s doing,” Slone said. “It just told a little story of somebody enjoying their hobby — or learning their hobby.”
