359815278_a628427938 Photo courtesy of BikePortland.org, via Flickr! - thanks Jonathan!

Look around. Do you see November? Is it the armies of aged Jack-O’-lanterns standing forlorn guard on doorsteps, their twisted smiles rotting in the wake of Halloween mirth? Is it the blanket of darkness and fog that spreads over your town, shortening the evenings, begging you to stay in bed later and later each morning? Is November the piles of fallen leaves in the street, their bright colors slowly draining into a slick, muddy brown? Can it be defined by a gluttonous meal, glue-sticked five-fingered turkeys or the madness of early holiday shopping?

Sandwiched between the mischief of October and the excesses of December it seems logical that the character of November, hidden under a warm jacket, could be guilt. Maybe that’s why we eat so much at Thanksgiving dinner. But November is also about new beginnings. It’s a month when much of the natural world (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) seems to slow down and hibernate in order to wake up refreshed again in the spring. But when the world sleeps, Wenders everywhere come out to play.

That’s right, the season of snow sports is almost upon us. So we thought it fitting to make November’s Friday Photo contest theme be none other than the one thing we’ve all got our eyes peeled to the sky to see: ‘first snow.’

This month Wend is teaming up with the good folks at Mountain Hardwear to reward those photographers savvy enough to capture the most thought-provoking images of early snowfall in any of its manifestations.

OU2388-456m Mountain Hardwear Bebop day pack

This week’s winner will get his or her photo published on the Wend website and receive a free Bebop day pack from Mountain Hardwear.

Submitting is easy! Just upload your best shots to our Flickr pool and then send an email to fphoto@wendmag.com with a description.

Good luck!