Winter Wonderland in Champagne

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I found myself on the Autoroute A4 stuck in traffic last week while heading on assignment to the Champagne region around Epernay, France. Normally I would have considered postponing the visit due to the warnings about impossible traffic outside of Paris; however, I decided to press on in order to capture this first beautiful snowfall of the season among the magical vineyards of Champagne. I steered the car toward Epernay and saw a beautiful soft fluffy blanket of neige covering the entire region under bright sunny skies. After a quick walk around town in order to capture a few images I drove towards the small village of Saint Martin d’Ablois. I was an hour late to my appointment, partly due to traffic and partly due to one magnificent vista after another. Here on this tiny road between towns we see the afternoon sunlight streaming through the snow-covered trees with the eye drawn into the infinity point on the left side of the photograph. This image stays in my imagination more than a typical snowy vineyard as it leaves a lot open to the mystery of time and place.
Technical Details: Canon 5D Mark II, 70mm lens, F 5.6 +2/3 (or in digital terms, F 7.1), shutter speed 1/250, ISO 100.
For more photography by Clay McLachlan:
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by Hubert Delorme, Vincent Boue, Clay McLachlan, and Paul Bocuse
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