Did you know that no two snowflakes are the same? 

I grew up in the South my whole life. And anytime it snows in the South, the city shuts down. Doesn’t matter if it’s an inch or a foot, everything closes.

I loved snow days as a child, I mean who doesn’t? Snowball fights, sledding, building snowmen, you know. The usual things you do when it snows.

As I got older, I just saw snow as a chance to get out of school early or a chance to leave work early. I saw it as more of a convenience, or inconvenience, depending on how you look at it.

I didn’t really pay attention to the details of the snow until I became a photographer. A very seasoned and successful photographer once told me, “Anyone can do this. But what makes you stand out is your attention to detail.” So I started paying attention to detail.

And when I found out it was going to snow over the weekend, I was excited. Yet, I noticed that everyone also had mixed feelings about the snow. “I get to go home early, I get to play in it, I can’t leave my house.” It was all about convenience, or inconvenience.

I had wanted to try my hand at macro photography for a while. I mean, sure I take macro shots of rings when I shoot weddings. But rings are mobile. If I don’t like the location, I can move them.

Photographing snowflakes was hard. I had to wait for the perfectly formed snowflake to land in front of me. Then I had a certain amount of time to capture it before another snowflake landed on it or before it melted. I also found that I liked shooting them at night. It was easier for the light to shine on them and truly make them pop.

In the end, I was able to capture a couple of unique looking and fully formed snowflakes and a reminder that beauty is everywhere, you just have to look.