Whenever the conditions are great, but I don't have much time to take photos, I'll just get in my car and drive. The transition between suburban Madison, WI and the eastern edge of the Driftless region is quick so getting lost after 15 minutes in the car is easy to do.

After 10 minutes or so heading West on a county road, I turned right onto a smaller, more intimate stretch of asphalt. The way the roads wind through so many farms and valleys a few aimless turns usually brings you to something interesting.

Driftless Wisconsin Blizzard - image 1 - student project

ABOVE: Remnants of last fall lost in the snow. Like all of the photos in this project, I had parked my car on the side of the road. Unfortunately, as the very friendly cop let me know, I had unknowingly parked more in the middle of the road because of the drifting snow.

On this particular day the air was thick with falling snow so the landscapes I usually look for were hidden behind a billion snowflakes. Still, my lack of direction was rewarded when I drove past a herd of cows who were silently enduring the snow.

In my experience cows are pretty willing to have their picture taken so I pulled over to the side of the road to see what I might be able to capture. I rolled my window down hoping to get something without getting out into the snow, but as I waited, the cows started slowly moving, en masse, towards my car.

Driftless Wisconsin Blizzard - image 2 - student project

ABOVE: Fujifilm X100T // Edited w/ VSCO Film 04

Knowing that I had a great chance to get even closer, I got out and slowly approached the fence. They certainly weren't aggressive, and much of the group didn't seem to care much about my presence. A few of them however, kept moving closer to fence.

Driftless Wisconsin Blizzard - image 3 - student project

ABOVE: Leader of the pack.

We all sat there for a few minutes taking stock of each other. Silently standing in the falling snow while I took their photos. After a few minutes, it seemed like time for me to leave them be, but I was happy to have been rewarded for my wandering with a small moment of adventure.

Notes:

Camera: Fujifilm X100T
Processing: Lightroom + VSCO Film (02 + 04)
See more like this @joshharoldson on IG.

Josh Haroldson

Podcaster + Instagram Photographer

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