Tuesday was the solstice; winter has officially begun. The nights may be long but now we'll gain daylight moving forward. Summer will be here before you know it. :)

Okay....it is winter. There are plenty of short days ahead.

Get up when it's dark, go to work in the dark, come home in the dark. Admittedly, it can get a little dreary, especially if you live in an area that's prone to experiencing long periods of cloud cover during the winter months.

Long nights coupled with dark days pack a punch. I'm from Chicago, where the sun has been known to go missing this time of year - sometimes for quite a while. One late November day in the early 1990s as the sun began to set over the Windy City, little did anyone suspect it wouldn't be seen again until well into January. Six weeks. True story.

I no longer mind winter's scarcity of daylight, though. My change of heart might have had something to do with the fact that there's a lot less sleep deprivation associated with nature photography during the winter months. Not having to set the alarm for 3:30 or 4am almost feels decadent.

While we're on the subject of daylight - or lack thereof - consider the symbiotic relationship between long nights and festive holiday lights (next to pyrotechnics, one of my favorite things). Extended darkness means there are more hours to admire beautiful illuminated displays. Just a flip of the switch and those nights become quite bright. There's absolutely nothing dreary about that.

It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When loved ones are near
It's the most wonderful time of the year...
(Eddie Pola & George Wyle)

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas!

About the photo

If you like holiday lights, you can enjoy roughly one million of them in Salt Lake City's Temple Square. There were more extravagant displays elsewhere on the grounds but something about the lanterns called my name. A few were embellished with decorations, like the snowflakes you see on this one. I looked for a decorated lantern that was positioned where I could create a nice wash of color behind it, and selected a shallow depth of field to blur the red and white lights in the background. Then it was just a matter of waiting (and waiting and waiting) for a break in the pedestrian traffic to release the shutter.