Winter is no time to stay indoors. There are lots of great things you can do, even in a small town like Petrolia, Ontario.

Snow had fallen, the sun was bright and clouds were smeared across the sky. We zipped up a sweater on Maya and bundled ourselves up and off we went. A short drive and we were at ‘the Flats’, as us locals call it. Bridgeview Conservation Area is located in one of the valleys, or low lying areas, in the town. We often take Maya for walks either along the road or along one of the few trails in the park.

Today I was looking for interesting shots and shadows are always one of my favourites, especially on freshly fallen snow. The contrast been the white and the dark stunning.

The bright blue skies, with the white of the clouds, makes a beautiful backdrop to the starkness the winter can create.

A single bull rush, or cattail, sticks up from the snow, creating a perfect shadow and a reminder that winter seemed to come sooner than expected.

The frozen pond has already been cleared of snow for hockey, only to be covered up overnight with a fresh dusting.

Maya was only about 6 years old at the time and still loving the snow and the cold.

A layer of rain had frozen weeks before and the cold had broken and heaved it to the top. The space left created a great spot for rodents and other small animals to escape the cold wind. 

Framing is a fantastic technique when composing images. By blocking out part of the scene you are drawing attention to the subject of your image. Frames can be in focused or blurred, like mine was.