Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 2009

Wrong light, too cold, too windy, rain, snow, and slush; bad weather is a major pitfall of winter, which also just so happens to be my favorite time of year to make pictures. But when the light hits just right and there’s a dusting of snow on the ground—well, it doesn’t get any better than that for me, so I keep trudging out there, hoping for a break.

On days that aren’t good for making pictures, I still try to spend some time out and about. It’s a good opportunity for exploration. I visit parks I’ve never been to before, or revisit a familiar place and make a left turn when I would usually make a right. My knowledge of the local landscape is constantly growing, thanks in part to those days when I am forced to take a break from photography.

Over the last couple of months I have grown to appreciate the landscape of Long Island more than ever before. When I first started taking pictures out here, I was drawn to the winter beaches and marshy forests of the southern shore. Lately I have been spending more time on the interior, learning the lay of the land.

Long Island, New York, courtesy David Rumsey Collection

The topography of Long Island is heavily marked by glacial activity. It is a terminal moraine, the area of the maximum advance of the Wisconsin glacial ice sheet, created approximately 20,000 years ago. This activity has created an interesting mix of rocky shores to the north, sandy shores to the south, and a hilly backbone dotted with kettle ponds throughout the interior. The backbone starts in Brooklyn to the west (Prospect Park is a good example of moraine topology), extends through more than 100 miles of Long Island, and continues hundreds of miles to the north in Martha’s Vinyard and Cape Cod.

At the moment, it’s those hills and ponds that have captured my attention. I love the feeling of the rocky soil beneath my feet as I crunch mile after mile. I’ve got a map with about twenty pushpins in it, full of ideas for new places to explore. Hopefully I can get the weather to cooperate at least a few more times before spring arrives.