landscapes | Mass Audubon – Your Great Outdoors

With our first major statewide snowstorm behind us, winter has certainly arrived in Massachusetts. The shoveling, snow blowing, and slippery driving conditions may not be ideal, but there’s nothing like a fresh blanket of snow to bring out the beauty of nature in winter.

In that spirit, here are five gorgeous winter landscapes from our annual Picture This: Your Great Outdoors photo contest. The 2019 photo contest winners will be announced very soon, so keep your eyes peeled! Update: Check out the winners here >

DelCarte Conservation Area, Franklin, MA © Art Donahue

Sunset on the Charles River, Newton, MA © Barry Hass

Near Farrar Pond, Lincoln, MA © Lynn DeLisi

The Esplanade, Boston, MA © Sylvia Zarco

Incredible wildlife shots and curiously textured mushrooms certainly make for amazing images, but sometimes great nature photography is as simple as capturing an interesting bend of the light.

This week, we are featuring photographs from our Picture This: Your Great Outdoors photo contest that highlight the beauty of “crepuscular rays”, commonly known as sunbeams. This optical phenomenon occurs when sunlight shines through openings in the clouds or forest canopy, creating columns of brightly lit air molecules or particulates. Interestingly, these rays are actually parallel to one another but can appear to radiate outward from the sun’s location in the sky because of linear perspective—the same visual illusion that makes railroad tracks appear to converge in the distance.

Enjoy these five beautiful images and be sure to submit your own gorgeous landscape photography to the photo contest!