We had been at the cabin for only a day, the kids were whooping it up with their four cousins and loving the freedom of playing in the trees and snow across the street. The sled hill was just steep enough to get speed, and just flat enough that the adults allowed them to all play, fairly unsupervised, for the morning. With everyone occupied, we set out for some fresh air and a visit. I grabbed my dSLR, I hadn’t lugged it all this way for it to sit in my bag and I wanted to shoot as we walked.
The walk was just as much about stretching my legs as it was to stretch my eyes. To see the shapes and color of this small California town in its quiet winter light. As our feet carried us from the main road lined with row houses that once housed the Mill Pond workers (but have since been re-invented into shops, real estate offices, renovation shops where you can get air freshener for air filter, a yoga studio and a small coffee shop), we headed towards the meadow. A quiet road hugged by pasture and open space; dotted with a few cattle and a small heard of deer within the barbed wire fence. The chip-sealed road led us on towards the Feather River. As we got closer to the river crossing, the color along the roadside changed. I was drawn to the vibrant red and orange of the willows. I loved how the green of the pine trees and the soft blue of the sky only made the color stand out, almost shouting at me to stop.  So we did, and I shot frame after frame of this color. Perhaps it’s because the Pacific Northwest Winter has been especially grey this year, perhaps because this vibrancy in winter stands out, or maybe a bit of both. But I stopped and played with the focal point, with the angles and the way the willow branches would change with a different fore or background. I was thankful that my husband was the only one with me and that he was patient. To play with color and light… it is a very good thing.

Keep chasing the light my friends, Vanessa