Alaska Photos ~ Alaska Stock Photography ~ Alaska Pictures

Jack Frost on the front door window, Fairbanks, Alaska

Winters in Fairbanks, Alaska are beautiful. Indeed they can be cold and dark, with temperatures dipping to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit. However, I personally like the magical pastel light that so clearly accentuates the winter landscape. The sun shows its face scarcely, but brilliantly.

On a chilly January morning, just as the sun rose over the distant mountains (about 10:30am), I observed this beautiful highlighted frost on the front door window of my home. The light grew too strong by the time I got my camera set up, so I planned to be ready the next morning just as the sun appeared.

Close-up photography takes time and precise maneuvering due to the technical difficulties of working with a very narrow depth of field and composition changes that result from the smallest camera movement. Because of this, it took some time to isolate a pleasing design in the frost, which is so remarkable in its own right. A dark background was purposely chosen to help isolate the intricate shapes of the tiny frost crystals.

Subject: Frost on window

Location: My house, Fairbanks, Alaska

Camera - film - gear:

• Canon 1Ds digital
• 100mm macro, f2.8
• f8.0 @ 1/5 second
• 100 ISO
• Gitzo Tripod