At the end of a very ‘grey walk’ teased with a little snow, at least Gillian and I found a nice cafe!

Love it or hate it, a snowy landscape has an endearing quality and is a delight to photograph.

There has been endless talk and news items about the copious amounts of it throughout much of the country. Here in North Lancashire we have been largely missed (so far!) by the white stuff. The skies have been endlessly grey and unispiring for my two passions, walking and photography.

In a recent walk, I explored a flat but interesting (in the right weather!) corner of the county, around Knott End.

Taking the route of the old railway between Knott End and Preesall, just as the snow started!

 A little further afield and today for a PR photo shoot near Wigan gave me plenty of snow…

Grey & white; there was something that appealed to me about the simple bleakness of the landscape near Up Holland.

  

 

 

 

 

Plenty of snow piled up beside the road near the village of Up Holland.

            

 

Official photo shoot done,

 it was my one mile cross country trek in the snow to the railway station, which was most rewarding. I had just taken a call from a news agency seeking dramatic snow pictures, so had my ‘press photographer head on’, when snapping these particular shots! 

A westbound train leaves Up Holland Station in heavy snow.

For the train photo, I wanted to show the snow falling, for which I needed a fast shutter speed (& big flakes) to freeze it (excuse the pun!). In poor light and with a moving train, it was trickier than you might think to really make the falling snow show up. Note the often succesful bottom left to top right composition, drawing the eye into the snowy distance. Certainly no front page photo worth submitting, but I was inspired and it hasn’t stopped snowing yet!

Watch out next time for a nostaligic look back at some of my most memorable weather related pictures…