Behind the Image: Catch a Falling Snowflake

Spring Snowstorm on the Potomac
Canon A2 camera with 80-300 Canon zoom lens; f4.5 at 1/60 sec
By Skip Brown

Great photos don't happen by accident. There's often a bit of luck involved, but even getting lucky means being prepared. That means anticipating all the elements involved in a great shot and being ready to bring them all together for that brief click of the shutter.

You can't take pictures without a camera (duh!); simply put, you must have your gear with you—all the time. In my case, that could be just walking down the street or dropping off a 25-foot waterfall. I carry my gear with me while kayaking, mountain biking, snowboarding, wherever—even hang-gliding.

"Spring Snowstorm on the Potomac" (above) is a good example of being prepared and ready to jump on an unexpected image. I was kayaking with friends on a cold and dreary early spring day, hardly a potential photo-op situation. But I dragged my gear along with me anyway, packed for a trip on the water. While kayaking, I carry my gear in a waterproof bag that I hold in my lap so I can grab it quickly when I jump out of my boat to shoot. You need to be a pretty confident paddler to use this approach, though. You would lose your gear if you flipped and swam out of the kayak.

After an hour or so of kayak play on a great surfing wave, my friends headed home. The snow was falling heavily and the rocky shoreline was taking on the quality of a Japanese landscape painting. Anticipating my friends kayaking through that scene, I paddled to a nearby island, jumped out of my boat, and quickly changed lenses with wet hands. I shot the snowstorm on relatively slow 100 ISO Ektachrome film, even though the light was dim. I handheld my Canon A2 camera and shot at 1/60th of a second at f4.5 using my 80-300 Canon zoom. I had time to shoot three or four frames as my friends drifted through my composition. Then they were gone around a corner downriver.

Skip Brown has been a freelance photographer for nearly 20 years. He combines his love of travel and the outdoors with a talent for action sports to create unique images. Skip is a Class V whitewater paddler, advanced rated hangglider pilot, and an avid boardsailor, surfer, mountain biker, and snowboarder. He lives in Cabin John, Maryland, near the Potomac River.