While I was away, the snow continued to fall in the Valais region of Switzerland.  And, for the past few weeks, the temperature has been well below zero (32 F), even during the day.  So we are still firmly in the grip of winter here in the Val d’Hérens.  All things considered, this is a good thing, especially for the ski resorts.

Although yesterday was meant to be a little cloudy, I decided to take a walk along the riverside from Evolène to Les Haudères, partly to test out my new camera in the white, wintery conditions.

To remind you, it’s a Sony Cybershot, DSC-WX500 and, I have to say, that I’m quite pleased with the quality of the images (though you may not be able to tell, as I always shrink them to around 200kb before posting).  However, I’ve lost the ability to take one point colour photos and, surprisingly, black and white (or at least, I haven’t found that setting yet).  On the plus side, the camera does not switch iself on accidentally when I put it away in the cover, and the panoramic photos work 100% of the time. (My old Lumix didn’t like it when the lighting was different from one side of the image to the other and, frustratingly, just gave the message “Move the camera more quickly”!)   I also like the fact that I can switch the aspect ratio quite quickly from 4:3 to 16:9 (or 3:2 or 1:1), which I think helps to frame some shots much better.