Only once before in my memory, close to 25 years ago it must be, has snow fallen during the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache NWR. This year, Sunday morning we woke to several inches on the ground and snow still falling. The roads between our hotel in Socorro and the refuge were snow packed and icy and the refuge loop, while manageable, was snow covered and even drifted in spots. Of course I had to get out there to find Cranes and Snow Geese in the snow. I, along with maybe 50 other intrepid photographers, found them at the far north end of the loop, in what they call the farm fields, and along the west side of the loop as it turns back, facing the mountains, now hidden in snow clouds. The snow on the ground, reflecting back, made the most of the light even with snow still in the air. In the hour I spent there, the snow clouds began to clear off the mountains, providing a dramatic backdrop.

This is an in-camera HDR from the Samsung Smart Camera WB800F. I find it amazing that the HDR software in the camera is sophisticated enough to capture a scene like this with movement. It must have correctly selected the moving Cranes from a single image. I used the HDR Scene filter in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 to bring up the mountains even more, and hold some drama in the still heavy clouds. Finally I used a Photo Editor Smart Blur brush and the Note stylus to smooth out some of the HDR noise in the clouds. All in all this is one of my favorite shots from the Bosque, not only from this trip, but from all the years I have photographed there. And that is saying something. 🙂