For many, winter can’t end soon enough. The season drags on through dirty snowbanks, gray skies, and wind-chilled days, with survival measured in dreams of warmer climates and the first sight of a robin. In that longing, winter’s quiet beauty and its many possibilities often go unnoticed.

Others, however, embrace a winter culture foreign to those afflicted by cabin fever. These winter enthusiasts gather on snow and vast sheets of ice to fish, ride, race, and revel in the sting of the cold. They venture outdoors during the harshest season to experience the subtle, minimalist beauty that winter offers.

A blanket of snow softens and quiets the landscape, inviting a slower way of seeing. The stillness demands attention—to the images themselves and to the people and places transformed by the tempered land. Working with a 4×5 camera mirrors this process, forcing me to slow down, observe, and settle into each moment.

Having spent most of my life on the East Coast, this landscape was foreign to me before moving to Minnesota. Confronting my first Midwestern winter, I set out during some of the coldest days I’ve ever experienced to photograph the people and places that reveal winter not as something to endure, but as something profoundly beautiful.