When I woke to fresh snow coating everything, I found myself instantly inspired. I fed our dogs, loaded up my gear — choosing just one camera since the day ahead promised long walks over ice and I needed to keep my load light due to a lingering back issue — and slipped into shoes with metal spikes for traction on slippery terrain. I could feel that the conditions were going to demand both caution and creativity.
Gear for tough winter conditions
For a shoot like this, you’ll want to be ready for both the physical terrain and the weather’s whims. My setup included a full-frame mirrorless body, lenses ranging from wide to telephoto, a tripod, and multiple camera batteries. Because winter drains your power far faster than calm conditions, bringing extra batteries is essential. On the clothing side: insulated jacket and trousers, layered clothing for flexibility, gloves that can stand cold wind, and shoes with studs to grip icy ground.
Even with all that, I realized I made some compromises. I didn’t bring my second body with a longer lens because I didn’t want to carry more weight; later I wished I had. And I skipped snow goggles, which would’ve helped. But sometimes even imperfect preparation still allows for the magic of the moment.
Choosing the right spot, paying attention to conditions
After a short drive (the roads still hard to navigate in the wind and snow), I arrived at a frozen lake near home. The wind was howling: gusts that would whip snow into the air, reshape the surface of the ice, blur footprints, and give the scene an energy you just don’t find in calm weather. I walked out a couple of hundred meters and stood in the center of the frozen expanse, absorbing how hard the wind was blowing and how alive everything felt.
At that point I knew: this wasn’t just another winter landscape shoot. This was about capturing the force of nature, the interplay of snow, ice, wind, light and human presence. With that in mind, I locked in camera settings: wide-angle lens, small aperture for deep focus, low ISO, shutter fast enough to freeze snow in motion. Post-shoot I removed sensor dust in Lightroom, applied a custom color profile, and revealed what I had envisioned.
Return at dusk, embrace movement
Later, as the sun set and wind picked up even more, I returned to the lake. This time I lay on the ice, wind blasting my face, snow swirling. I used a tripod and self-timer to take multiple shots of myself walking across the icy surface — footprints disappearing almost immediately as the wind blew. Using a 14-24mm lens at around f/4, ISO 400, shutter about 1/80 sec, I captured myself mid-stride, immersed in the environment.
Back in the studio I refined the image. I straightened horizon lines and trees using Photoshop’s warp tool, removed small branches that distracted, then in Lightroom I used a radial filter to smooth and brighten the horizon, and applied a specialized color profile at partial opacity for the final look.
What this day taught me
Spending four hours in that wind-whipped environment taught me more than just technical settings: it showed me the importance of mindset. It’s so easy when weather turns rough to feel overwhelmed or hesitate—but if you lean in, let inspiration take over, you can create something unique. Walking across a frozen lake in a storm is not comfortable, but it’s memorable. And at the end of the day, it wasn’t about making a perfect shot by strict rules—it was about immersing in the scene, letting nature speak through lens and feet and breath.
Final thoughts
If you’re planning a winter shoot with challenging weather: pack smart, check the conditions (especially wind direction and terrain), lighten your load where you can, and most of all — go with the flow. Don’t let the wind or snow intimidate you. Let it push you into something unexpected. And if you come away with images that make you feel alive, then you’ve done more than take a picture—you’ve experienced winter.
Until next time, fellow creators: keep exploring, keep pushing into the cold, and keep on creating.
