OK class. Today’s photographic assignment is to capture the essence of wind. No, not just photograph wind. Capture its “essence.” To make the assignment more challenging, do it this time of year before rich colors cover the landscape. Ah, there’s the rub.

High gusty winds moved into the area overnight. Blustery winds that are part of March in the mountains. So I reverted to a couple of old camera tricks to try and capture the “essence” of a windy morning.

First, soft focus. In fact, no focus. Capture a scene that is so out of focus it is hard to tell what it is. Then add to the illusion in Photoshop. Another month into Spring and this same image would be saturated with color. Not now.

Second trick. Double exposure. Weathervanes turn in wind but that movement is not easy to capture on a still image. So I used an old trick. Shoot one exposure. Then expose it again with a slight movement of the camera.

Class dismissed.