“All the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.

– Leo Tolstoy

Oftentimes when I’m out in nature with my camera, I can tell immediately when a photograph is going to look better in black and white than it does in color. Not every image is better than black and white. It has to do with the significance of the light and shadows and the contrast between them.

This photograph was made mid-morning on a winter day from an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. The weather had been cold enough in the previous two weeks to keep the snow on the ground in the valleys. The day itself was a gray day, partly cloudy at times, and mostly sunny at other times. The wind was blowing the high clouds across the sky and it created many different versions of light and shadow.

Please visit Beautiful Sun Photography to see more of my mountain and valley photography. All are available for purchase as wall art (art print, canvas, acrylic, metal, or framed).

Beautiful Sun Adventures is brought to you by Deb Beausoleil, a landscape photographer living in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her photography can be viewed (and purchased!) at her website, Beautiful Sun Photography.