The Snow of Music

I’d like to post something from my (smallish) photo collection once in a while, and the following picture seems as good a place as any to start. Click on the thumbnail to see the full-size photograph.

I took it when I was in Europe, in 2000, using one of those old-fashioned cameras where the only way to get the image into a computer is to feed it through a scanner first. If the house looks familiar, I’m not surprised; it was used as a location in The Sound of Music.

I think the specialness of the photograph lies in the contrast between the wintery image that we see, versus the cheerful colours that our memories conjure up after we recognise the house. That ice, we knew when it was running water. Those trees, we knew when they wore leaves. We associate the location with an image of children playing.

Also important are the silhouettes of the tree branches in the foreground, which reinforce the dead, wintery theme, and make the picture complete.