sudley road

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It seems like for the majority of February we’ve been getting a lot of rain and cloudy days.

Why can’t it just be snow?

I captured this image on the first (and I hope not only) snow day we’ve had this season so far. After I flew my drone for a bit, I ended up driving around to see if I could find some more interesting things to capture. That’s when I stumbled onto the Manassas National Battlefield’s Stone Bridge Trail. I had never seen or heard of it before, but I just saw some snowplows in the parking lot so I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. At least I knew I could park easily 🙂

Luckily the trail was mostly paved and it was a very easy walk. I love it when trees are covered in snow. I know I was smiling the whole time I was walking along this path.

My camera settings for this image are F7.1 at 1/320th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens .

All photos available for print and licensing >

I knew we were going to get snow for almost a week but I didn’t think much of it. Every time I checked the weather, it said the high was going to be in the 40’s so I figured if we did get any kind of snow, it wouldn’t stick or it would just end up becoming rain. I was wrong.

When it actually started to snow on Tuesday afternoon, it really came down. I was shocked when it was sticking to the grass and even created some slush on the roads. So I tried my best to capture it all on Tuesday around my neighborhood, but I wasn’t really happy with anything I captured. I went to sleep hoping the night air would be cold enough to keep the snow on the trees.

So I woke up Wednesday morning, packed up my drone and camera gear, and crossed my fingers that there would still be snow a little further out west in Virginia. I was right! I was so excited to fly, especially when the sun started to come up. The winter glow really came alive on the snow-covered trees and I couldn’t help but smile (even if I was by myself, standing in the shivering cold). I was getting wind warnings the entire time I was flying, but I’m so glad I pushed it a little bit further to capture this.

I really hope we get more snow later on in the season ❄️❄️❄️

My camera settings for this image are F2.2 and 1/640th sec and ISO 400 with my DJI Mavic Pro