Juxtaposition

Before purchasing my Canon 100mm lens, I decided to rent one for a week to see whether or not I liked it as much as I thought I would. I spent the entire week making up things to photograph, from chicken feathers to family heirlooms and had a blast!

When I made the decision to rent this lens, I started watching the weather very closely for snow in hopes that I could photograph snowflakes. I had never used a true macro lens before and was anxious to try out this new subject. Having heard how difficult it can be to capture a snowflake before it melts, I was determined to take the challenge and test my skills.

My now husband was thrilled to come home one cold, January day to find me set up at our wide-open kitchen window with my tripod, a black wool hat on the sill, and me in a blanket trying to capture the falling snow. Admittedly, this task was much more difficult than I imagined it would be so after about an hour of the window being open, I decided to add an element of excitement to my images to change things up a bit with some flowers.

In anticipation of my lens rental, I purchased some fresh flowers to practice with and decided to introduce them to the cold. I set this arrangement outside of the window and sprayed it with some water, making frozen water droplets on the flowers. At one point, the snowfall picked up and these snowflakes landed  on one of the flowers where frozen water droplets had begun to settle. I was beyond excited about this image in front of me as I love juxtaposition in general and I felt that this marriage of snow and colorful flowers was a perfect example.

I assume that, because the frozen water droplets were present, this snowflake had a much longer solid life than the previous flakes I was attempting to capture. Because of this, I was able to compose a nice image of the snowflake and the flower in a way that makes each one appear as its own individual element while still sharing the frame with one another without taking anything away from the competing subjects.

This day was extremely fun and I can't wait for more snowfall this year so I can create some new images with snow and whatever else I can come up with!