Winter Backyard Photo Opportunities

This time of year it's hard to motivate myself to go out and take some pictures.  We relocated from New Hampshire to the Atlanta area and this is my first winter there.  To my surprise, and to everyone else's amazement, this has been an unusually brutal winter for Georgia.  Even just a forecast of snow will cancel schools.  And a real snowfall cripples this metropolitan area which barely has enough equipment to keep the interstates open.  Side roads and residential streets almost never see a snowplow on them, and forget about sand or road salt.

So when we had over 4 inches of snow last Sunday it was a major event.  On top of that, the precipitation changed to ice and rain, then the temperature dropped below freezing again. It wasn't until Thursday that temperatures got above freezing during the day.  With the sun out on Saturday and three days worth of temperatures in the 40's, enough ice had melted away that I felt safe venturing out around the yard. 

No one has to drain their swimming pools for the winter down here, so when it does get ice on the surface our swimming pool offers some unusual images.  Leaves frozen in place just below the surface, ice crystals, diffracted shapes and reflections all make for unusual opportunities.  I didn't have to venture far.

Here's one of my favorites:

I've posted others at my website gallery.  Feel free to pay them a visit.