Cathy Mackelvey

Wow look at that morning light. It may be cold (-16 C with a wind chill of -24 C) but the trade off is the wonderful light. According to Environment Canada, down to -27 wind chill, frostbite does not occur within 45 min. Lower than that the time to frostbite shortens quickly.

(http://www.msc.ec.gc.ca/education/windchill/research2003_e.html)

February in Nova Scotia. If you are outside with a camera for extended periods of time it requires some planning. It's a bad sign when we start looking for the wind chill temperature. Note to self: buy a longer coat. The goal is to not freezing anything. Personally I go for a ¾ length coat with a fur edged hood, warm boots, lined leather gloves. Given that set up, I usually expect to freeze my fingers a little but I can control the camera. I carry the camera in the bag when I am not actively shooting. The pressure of holding the camera restricts the blood flow just enough that fingers tend to freeze. It's a little game we play in the cold. How long can I stay out in this. Hmm fingers getting numb, time to pull them up under the sleeve of my coat for a bit. Cheeks getting numb. time to get out of the cold. With a hood that has a fur edge I can last much longer. The fur extends over my face and keeps it from freezing but I can see what I am doing. Now, I just need to buy a spare camera battery. Cold and batteries don't go together very well Do you make any special preparations for shooting in cold weather?