Winter Refinery

Winter is back in Minnesota ... and with it my fascination with how beautiful steam looks in cold weather, when it huffs and puffs in big clouds around industrial buildings. The steam is hot so it wants to rise; but the air is cold and holds it down. The result is mad and wonderful clouds like this. I love them.

I didn't start out to take this shot. We had snow on Saturday and so on Sunday I went for a drive in the country. I was thinking I'd find something pastoral for a subject - a desolate field, a tumbledown fence. Something nice and post-cardy. But then as the sun was getting low I came upon this place and all bets were off. To hell with charming farmland-in-winter shots! Give me awesome and cool industrial buildings anytime!

I'll have to go back to this place sometime. I was kind of rushed. I simply wasn't dressed for the weather. The wind was arctic and whipping about me while shooting this, and suddenly it was obvious my fall coat was pathetically inadequate to the task of keeping me warm. I began trembling like a leaf and had to flee back into the car after about 25 minutes. In fact, I got so frosty I forgot I was shooting at medium-quality JPG level, so there's a bit of grain in this shot. Oh well ... you can't have everything.