Photographer Captures Frozen Prairie Lands in Minus 30 Degrees

Matt Growcoot

A lone, leafless tree stands on a snow-covered landscape with a small, weathered house in the distance. The scene is desolate and serene, with a soft, muted color palette accentuating the cold, wintry atmosphere.

For many photographers, when the weather outside hits negative cold temperatures it’s a sign to stay indoors and hope that conditions improve.

Angela Boehm from Saskatchewan, Canada was of the same mindset. “I found myself grumbling about yet another day I couldn’t photograph because of the biting cold — it was minus 30 degrees Celsius outside,” she tells PetaPixel.

But as Boehm sat in her car waiting for a gap to appear on the highway, she had an epiphany that there was a “quiet beauty” in the scene in front of her that had been there all along. “That moment sparked something, and I started to photograph it,” she adds.

A desolate, snow-covered road stretches into the distance, blending seamlessly with the foggy white sky. Telephone poles line the road, creating a sense of isolation and calm in the wintry landscape.

A snowy landscape featuring several bare trees scattered across a vast, white field. The misty atmosphere creates a serene, minimalist scene, with soft, diffused light and pale sky blending with the snow-covered ground.

A faint rainbow appears in a cloudy, pale sky. The soft, diffused light creates a serene, monochromatic atmosphere with subtle variations in gray and white hues.

A black bird, possibly a raven, is captured mid-motion against a snowy background. Its wings are spread, and claws are visible as it appears to be landing or taking off, with snow scattering around its feet.

Boehm is from the prairies of southern Saskatchewan and knows all about harsh Canadian winters. She began to realize that minus 30 degrees Celsius winter landscapes are a metaphor for life, and she began her project, which has since turned into a book.

“The frozen prairie landscapes, while a subject in their own right, serve as a powerful metaphor for the deeper themes the book explores: loss, memory, and resilience,” she says. “What better environment to convey these ideas than a winter prairie storm?”

“The loss is embodied in the emptiness and biting cold,” she continues. “The memory, or its gradual fading, is represented by the snow obscuring the horizon, softening and blurring the scenes. And the resilience is in the solitary tree — a steadfast survivor of countless storms in this unforgiving landscape.”

A solitary house stands in the middle of a vast, snow-covered field. The sky is overcast, blending seamlessly with the white landscape, and only a few dried grasses poke through the snow. The scene is serene and minimalist.

A grainy and abstract black and white image showcasing a cloudy or foggy sky. The texture is indistinct, with swirls and patterns resembling soft, wispy clouds or smoke fading into a light background.

A snowy landscape with minimal visibility, featuring a barren tree partially visible in the foreground. The distant background is obscured by a thick blanket of snow, creating a serene and subdued winter scene.

A large flock of birds flying in the sky against a pale, overcast background. The birds are scattered across the image, creating a dynamic pattern with their varying positions and wing spans.

A snowy landscape with large snow-covered pipes barely visible through the heavy snowfall. The background is obscured by a thick white haze, creating a minimalistic and almost monochromatic scene.

What is it Like Taking Photos in Minus 30?

Shooting in minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) brings a unique set of challenges: for example, it is easy to blow out the whites while also dealing with the darkness that can envelop the landscape during a storm.

“I didn’t have a meter that could accurately read these conditions, so I had to rely solely on the histogram to figure the right exposures,” Boehm explains.

“Once I had that dialled in it became fairly straightforward. The histogram for these images is essentially flat, with one pronounced peak in the whites. This presented unique difficulties in ensuring the subtle tonal details translated well onto the page. It was a delicate balance, both in capturing and printing, to convey the nuance of these extreme conditions.”

A vast snow-covered landscape with a distant foggy tree line under a cloudy sky. The scene is almost entirely white and gray, creating a minimalist and serene winter atmosphere.

A leafless tree stands alone in a foggy, snow-covered landscape. The branches are bare and barely visible through the dense white mist, creating a serene and minimalistic winter scene.

A vast, snow-covered field stretches into the horizon. A flock of small birds flies in the distance against the pale sky, blending with the muted tones of the landscape. Sparse patterns in the snow suggest subtle ground textures.

Silhouette of a bird in flight against a white sky, wings fully outstretched, with faint snowflakes falling around.

Boehm used a Fujifilm GFX 100 for her project, a medium format digital camera, which she says held up well in the extreme conditions. Nevertheless, there were still difficulties.

“The biggest issue was keeping the camera cold,” she explains. “Once the camera acclimated to the freezing temperatures, I couldn’t bring it into a warmer space, like my vehicle, without it fogging up. As a result, I had to keep my vehicle cold, often leaving the windows down to maintain the same temperature as the outside environment.”

Another issue was battery life. In cold weather, batteries simply don’t perform the way they do in optimal temperatures. So, Boehm always had to keep spare batteries inside her jacket and try to keep them warm, or else they too would drain.

Boehm couldn’t wear a glove on her right hand while taking photos meaning she was constantly having to put her hand back in her pocket that was filled with hand warmers.

“I would put a mitten on while I walked and explored, but not while finding a scene and photographing,” she explains. “Gloves simply don’t work for pressing the shutter.”

A solitary, leafless tree stands in a snowy landscape. Its bare branches spread widely against a pale, foggy sky, creating a stark and serene winter scene.

A vast, snowy landscape under a cloudy sky, with subtle, blurred details suggesting wind-swept snow and sparse vegetation barely visible through the white expanse. The atmosphere conveys a sense of cold and desolation.

An open book on a light green surface, displaying a black and white photograph of a flock of birds flying over a grassy landscape. The image captures a serene, minimalist scene with a focus on nature.

Boehm’s resulting book, titled Minus Thirty, features essays by writers, including Brad Zellar. “The response has been incredible,” Boehm says of her book. The book is available here but is selling fast.

More of Boehm’s work can be found on her Instagram and website.

Image credits: Photographs by Angela Boehm.

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