There were a lot of amazing photos that came out of Winter Storm Jonas… a.k.a. #Blizzard2016… a.k.a. #Snowpocalypse2016. But whatever you’ve decided to call it, one thing is certain: the blizzard photo that has been shared more than any other photo captured last weekend has to be Blizzard Snow Storm in NYC by Michele Palazzo, a.k.a. @streetfauna.
In one incredibly artistic frame, this shot captured the harrowing conditions that Jonas produced at one of the most iconic locations on Earth, the Flatiron building in NYC:
Plenty of people have shared this shot across the Internet—it’s already gotten over 2,300 likes on 500px alone!—but we wanted to get the story behind the shot. What was it like shooting in those conditions? What did it take to capture the photo? What gear was used? How was it processed? So we got in touch with Michele to see if he would share some details with us.
First off, you’ll be surprised to know that this photo was not captured with some ultra-expensive DSLR: it was shot on a lowly Richo GR backup camera.
“The funny story is that I sold my Fujifilm X-T1 the day before to put the money towards an X-Pro2,” explains Michele. “So my only camera was a little Ricoh GR!”
“That morning I woke up early like always on the weekend, and because I was excited like a kid about the snow storm!” continues Michele. “My girlfriend, still half asleep, looked at me with one eye open and said something like, ‘where are you going so early?’ I replied, ‘sleep, I’ll be back soon’ and headed out, super excited.”
Out there in the middle of a blizzard, partially blinded by the blowing snow and partially blinded by the hoodie/hat combo he was using to keep his ears from getting frostbite, Michele started shooting… the old fashioned way.
“When I use my Ricoh GR, I shoot the old fashion way. Basically, I shoot without looking on the screen and “develop” the photos later on at home,” he told us. “It makes me feel that excitement that comes with discovering something special.”
And this time, that hope of discovering something special paid off big. Scattered among the other images he captured around the iconic Flatiron building intersection was a beautiful shot, almost painterly, complete with blowing snow and totally devoid of people.
That photo, shared on several platforms after a bit of tweaking—it was post-processed with the VSCO filter “ACG” to enhance the details and cold colors, according to Michele—absolutely blew up. It’s been covered by outlets major and minor, earned thousands upon thousands of likes and upvotes and hearts, and catapulted Michele, at least for the moment, into the Internet limelight.
Here’s one more look at the iconic shot, followed by a few other images of the storm that Michele was kind enough to send us:
To see more from Michele, follow him on 500px, Instagram, and Twitter, or go check out his website. And the next time a potentially record-breaking blizzard is headed your way, remember: it doesn’t matter if you sold your primary camera yesterday, get out there and shoot!!!
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