Dead of winter

I felt winter's icy grip of death while taking photos a couple of weekends ago in Door County, Wisconsin. Wind chills approached -20F the entire weekend. Exposed skin felt as if it were on fire. Tear ducts involuntarily pumped fluid into the eyeballs in an effort to keep them warm. I don't know what purpose is served the body by having your nose run profusely in those temperatures, but I'm sure mine had a good reason, because that's what it did. A quick draw of breath through the nose created instant noseplugs of ice.

I found a clump of what I imagine used to be colorful wildflowers at the edge of a wood near the Sherwood Point lighthouse, and used it as foreground detail for this shot. It just helps capture the stinging cold I fought against while photographing. Oh, yeah - the proximity of my warm eyeball to the glass viewfinder created a thin layer of frost, so everything pretty much looked like the soft focus of this Ortonized photo.

I'd like to return to this spot sometime in the spring, when the weather is much more condusive to human life and the dead stems are replaced by soft, green shoots and colorful blossoms.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2007 James Jordan.

Update: A tutorial on how to achieve an Orton effect on your photo has been posted to my photo advice blog, Ready, Aim, Click. Check it out!