I Can’t Feel My Face

Loved the snow on this fence post.

If you were following my calendar project last year, you know that my biggest challenge was trying to find snow or ice to photograph for January. We finally got a little snow this January on the 23rd.

At my house, it was only about an inch, and even though the temperatures were in the 20s, it was mostly melted by noon. The ground was probably too warm—it’s been a mild winter—and the sun was really bright. I had heard that the northeast corner of Georgia had about six inches, but that was just too far to go this particular weekend.

When it snows at my house, if there’s ice mixed in, I can’t get out of my driveway, but a friend had promised me that if we got snow this winter, he would pick me up in his 4-wheel drive vehicle and take me out to shoot. Yeah, turns out I could have driven myself, but it was super nice to be chauffeured—all I had to do was say, “Stop, I want to shoot that!”

We went about 55 miles north before we finally found some snow. The first stop was a cemetery. There was a pond so I thought it was worth stopping for—possible reflections and all of that, but that didn't work out, so we drove on.

Then we ended up in downtown Jasper. The wind gusts were awful. They had one of those digital signs where it’ll show something and then switch to the time and temp. I was looking at this sign, and it said 21 degrees, and a couple of seconds later, it said 20. That wasn’t the direction I wanted to see the temps going—and with wind chills 10 or more degrees below that. Brrrr!

Black and white of an s-shaped creek.

I had on gloves—a liner pair and a regular pair—but I kept having to take off the regular pair. You’ve got to have your fingers free to turn all of those little dials and press all of those buttons, and mine were frozen! Next winter, I’ve got to get some of those mittens with the flap. Hey, maybe it'll make me look younger.

We drove a little farther into the country where I spotted a barn, some cattle, a creek, and even a chimney that was left from where a house once stood. All of those looked like good subjects to practice some snow shots.

If houses were just built as well as the chimneys ...

I had done a great job with layering my clothing—I wasn’t cold at all, but as we were heading back to the car, I realized I couldn’t feel my face. Made me think of that song that’s been on the radio recently—probably not what it meant at all, but I think it'll always remind me of my snow outing.

Do you have suggestions for keeping your fingers warm and still have them accessible for photography?