Winter’s chill

Last week’s early snow has melted, leaving memories of our delight. This photograph captures the unexpectedness and beauty of awakening to a world be-robed in white.

The first impression is of flatness, as if the photograph were an abstract color study. (That plummy purple! Those radiating bronze lines!) Appreciation of the depth and detail of this portrait of a barrel cactus’s protective architecture slowly emerges. Closer examination reveals the exquisiteness of the decayed sepal and the charm of the two, heart-shaped ice crystals caught in the cactus’s spines.

—Tom Hinson, editor, Photograph of the Week

Editor’s Note: Click on the photograph to view it in a light box for even greater clarity.