Taken at Sunset on 22 December, 2008

Have you ever frozen your fingers taking photos?  I remember a sunset during the Winter Solstice where the temps were in the teens and the wind was ripping off of Long Island Sound making wind chill negative numbers.  At one point I lost feeling in my fingers.  Pressing the camera’s trigger I was surprised that nothing happened.  After three or four failed attempts I took my eye away from the viewfinder to see if my trigger had frozen to find that I had been pressing the camera’s body instead.  Duh! Of course nothing was happening.  I had no feeling in my extremities so didn’t know I was missing the button.  Frozen fingers makes photography a chore turning your attention to a warm cup of coffee instead of waiting for the right lighting.

I’ve tried every trick to mitigate the agony of near frost bitten fingers, but it was this September during a visit to friends in Montana that I was introduced to the beginning of the solution.  My Montana friend paints landscapes and she does so during their prolonged winters…outside!  I mentioned my challenge and she suggested that a pair of thin golfing gloves was enough comfort for her to work her brushes.  I never asked her how she keeps her water, as in watercolors, from freezing…curious challenge but not a photographer’s dilemma.

Two nights ago we had the first New England snowstorm of the season.  With great anticipation I set up the bracketing function for high dynamic range imaging and attached a wireless remote to my camera body.  “Oh yeah, don’t forget those golf gloves,” I muttered to myself.  In they went to insure I wouldn’t have to plunge hands into my coat pocket whenever the fingers turned white.  To be extra careful I threw in a pair of fingerless gloves just in case the golf gloves didn’t work.

I parked in a location I had scouted out the day before and as I prepared my tripod, mounting the camera onto the ball head, I had a ‘light bulb’ moment.  Don’t make the glove choice an “either/or” but rather “both.”  So on went the golf gloves and then without too much effort the fingerless gloves on top.  The temps were in the high teens and like the year before the wind was tearing off of the Sound, but this time I spent the morning without once shoving my hands into my jacket.  I was able to feel every button and toggle wheel, move the zoom, and otherwise carry on all of the typical photography chores without a hint of pain or lost sensation.

Fingerless fleece gloves shed moisture easily

Golf gloves found in pro shops or athletic stores

Together they make a great combination against the cold and wind

I share this knowing how difficult gloves make working a camera’s controls, and am so grateful to my friend Carrie for suggesting the thin layered golf gloves to cut the effects of the wind on the finger tips.  Just one last word of advice; when getting fingerless gloves, be certain they aren’t tight fitting or you’ll constrict blood flow to the fingers where the sewn piping finishes the ends of the half-fingers defeating the advantage of using both.  Otherwise your fingers will be free to fly across your camera and lens capturing those rare winter images.

Marina's Utility Tool Shed