My Tip for Winter Photography - Vallerret Gloves

Gear & Equipment

Jan 2

If you’re a photographer who’s attracted to cold places or happens to lives in an area where winters are long and cold, then I’m sure you can relate to having solidly frozen hands after just a few minutes of shooting. Not to mention the hassle of turning those dials, which is next to impossible with normal gloves. Up till now, I’ve always had to compromise on the warmth of my hands just to get ‘the shot’. It doesn’t help that I have terrible circulation so my hands get cold really fast. Plus, you can’t shoot if you can’t feel your hands. Fingerless gloves do work to an extent, but as a photographer I only really need my thumb and index finger so it doesn’t make sense for the rest of my fingers to suffer the cold as well. Needless to say, I’d been on the look out for a while, but it wasn’t until quite recently that I came across gloves specifically designed for Winter Photography.

Vallerret Photography Gloves have their base in Norway and was founded by two photography enthusiasts who are well-versed in long cold winters. They basically addressed the biggest problem winter photographers have in terms of both warmth and practicality. I was positively curious as I’d never seen gloves designed specifically for photographers before, so I reached out to them and within a short time frame I received my Women’s Nordic Gloves from Vallerret. Now to be totally transparent, these gloves were very kindly sent to me by the team at Vallerret as part of a collaboration. However, the opinions here are completely my own and they have been extensively tested by my frivolous love of playing in snow. I am neither being ‘paid’ for this post nor deriving any commission from the links on here. The only bias I have, is that these are the first photography gloves I’ve ever owned and they are super photogenic so I love showing them off :D

Ok so… did it live up to its hype in warmth and practicality?

In terms of warmth, it’s certainly perfect for the region I’m currently based in, which is Ashland, Wisconsin. During the months of November and December, it’s been quite cold with a decent layer of snow on the ground and the temperatures fluctuate between -15 to +5 degrees Celsius here. The Women’s Nordic Gloves keeps my hands warm on most days that I go out shooting with my camera or playing in the snow, but I do sometimes feel the cold seeping in when I’ve been out too long on a really cold day ( -10°C). I’d say if you’re going to be in sub -10°C often then you might want to consider one of their heavier winter gloves, especially if you’re someone who really feels the cold. They even make gloves for gloves, which I can’t say I’ve seen anywhere before.

In terms of practicality: 10/10. It’s not limited to just photography and navigating camera settings, using my phone without having to take off my gloves is already a life saver. I’ve also had some fun flying my drone and during the 26min flight time, my hands didn’t have to suffer. The coolest aspect about these gloves are the magnetic flip back fingertips. Whilst most fingerless gloves require you to take your gloves off in order to awkwardly tie the flap back, Vallerret designed these so that you simply just flip the fingertips back and the magnetic patch will keep it down so your fingers are free and unobstructed from whatever task you want to do. The only limitation here is that only the thumb and index finger have flaps that can be pulled back, but when do you ever really use the other fingers? Perhaps the middle finger for writing?

How does it fare in snow?
I was excited to test this part out because if you look at the photo, you will see an incision where the finger flaps back, so I was a little hesitant that I’d end up with snow all mushed up in my gloves and freezing hands as a result. Those who know me, will know that I love playing and throwing up heaps of powdered snow. They might also know that I’m prone to falling when doing various snow sports. So far I’ve been cross country skiing quite a few times already and done a few winter hikes with these new gloves… and very surprisingly, I’ve never had a problem with snow getting in the gloves despite the amount of photo stops (and falls) I make!

Final Thoughts:
Total game changer for me in the sense that I can take more photos now because I don’t have to compromise on the warmth of my hands and it’s so quick and easy to just pull back those magnetic flaps and shoot away. I am personally super pleased with my Women’s Nordic Gloves and would highly recommend to mountain addicts and anyone who does a lot of photography in harsher, colder climates.