First Wander of 2026
Snow stopped play
3rd January 2026
Do you feel a childlike wonder race through your veins when the snow falls? I certainly do. We don’t see as much of the wonderful white stuff as much as we used to in these parts. When I saw it begin to billow from the full-looking sky, I grabbed my camera and hit the streets near me. It felt amazing to be trudging through the virgin snow, feeling and hearing the crunch underfoot with each footstep. I was six years old once more. And it felt wonderful.
I only covered around a one-mile radius from home - sometimes that is all you need for a photo walk. It isn’t all about long country treks or trampling the streets of a massive metropolitan city for hours on end. Snow is great as it makes everything look different to how you see it day-to-day. Colours pop more, streets may become more silent as people stay indoors with the heating on and imbibing hot chocolate.
I wandered the streets in awe of the beautiful white blanket covering everything. My eyes were caught by pops of colour from road signs, people wrapped up in big winter coats navigating the quiet streets. The sky often lost all detail and became a large grey blanket overhead, bathing everything a soft, gentle low light. I was in my element. My mind was purely focused on being present in the snowy landscape. Everything else fell away for. a while. And that is what you wish for when on a photo walk.
I returned home after about 90 minutes and wondered how long the snow would last. Would I get more opportunities to enjoy the winter wonderland? The last thing I was thinking about was whether I captured any decent photos. As I started to edit them later that day, I realised there were one or two I found interesting. Nothing that will rock the world of photography, but that is never the point with these walks. Good photos are a bonus. My favourite is a man and his dog caught in a heavy snow shower, trying to get home as quickly as possible.
Here’s what I ended up with from my wander…
