Blowing Snow

A night shot of snow falling. Thoughts? Is the lighting to harsh? Too

much motion? Feedback appreciated. Thanks.

very interesting shoot

Joseph, all I have to offer is opinion, so this is not carved in stone nor handed down from on high, it is merely the way I see your photograph. 

You asked if there is too much movement and if the lighting is too harsh. Personally, I do not find either to be a problem. Although, possibly if the exposure was shorter you would have dashes rather than long streaks that would be more readily identifiable as falling snow flakes. Were I to see this photograph without explanation I would likely be hard pressed to identify the streaks as snowflakes because I have never seen snowflakes as such long streaks—something that the camera can do but we can’t. This is really playing to the difference, the uniqueness, of the camera’s vision as opposed to human vision. 

I qualify that answer with possibly—possibly you could have made a photograph that was more in keeping with other photographs of this same subject matter. As it is, even though it is not as readily identifiable, you have made a more unique photograph and I find it extremely interesting. I am somewhat surprised that the flakes recorded so consistently across the entire frame of the photograph. Sometimes by doing it wrong or at least differently from other photographers it is possible to produce a very new statement, which I feel you have done. This is a different way to see snowflakes which is part of what photography is about.

 Even though I like the photograph very much for its uniqueness I feel that the background is extremely distracting. I am a little ambivalent about the post with the bird feeders. In one way, supplying the birds nourishment at a time when the food supply is lower plays to the story of a snowfall, however, it seems a secondary story and somewhat competing story to the story of the uniqueness of the capture of the snow flakes. Also the brightness and heaviness of the streaks in the area of the bird feeders are greatly reduced so that the feeders become much more prominent in the image. Maybe if the bright streaks had continued to the right side the feeders would not stand out as much. I do not know what was available as background if you had chosen a point of view to the left in order to eliminate the feeders—it might have been equally distracting. I did look at your photograph cropped as a tall narrow, removing the right side over to just past the dark window in the building. To me, doing that makes the background much less distracting and really lets the streaks of snow dominate the photograph. It is always stronger to tell one story than two in a photograph. The simpler you make the statement the easier it is to read. In all it is an interesting and very unique photograph.