Quick Shot: Frozen Potomac

It has been unusually cold in Washington, DC for the past few weeks, including a few solid inches of snow early last week. Snow and ice can bring out different behaviors in animals, so I decided to head out with my friend Tim to explore along the C&O Canal.

This particular Quick Shot captured something you'll rarely see in Washington, DC. Although snow is fairly common in the winter, the low temperatures that caused chunks of ice to be floating in the Potomac River are fairly uncommon. Apparently the creative part of my brain hadn't frozen despite a few hours in the brutal cold, because I was instantly struck by the beauty of the scene when I came across this view. The contrast of the white trees, white snow, and white ice chunks against dark and dreary winter captured my attention immediately. I wish this photo came with sound because listening to the chunks of ice scrape along the shore line was an incredible sound. 

I took this photograph from the Maryland side of the Potomac but the photograph is of the Virginia side of the river.

I decided to convert the photograph into black and white because the colors were already fairly muted in a grey winter sky. The photo was taken with a Nikon D800 + Nikon 80-400mm lens.