Snow got you down? St. John's newcomer sees the beauty in a downtown winter

It was music that brought Diego Pani to St. John's, and it was music that guided him and his camera through the icy, powderedstreets of downtown after the first big snowfall this winter.

Pani is an ethnomusicology student at Memorial University's School of Music. He's also an amateur photographer.

"Maybe I'm still in the first phase when you enjoy snow," Panilaughed.

Lured by the dream of working and living in North America, paired with MUN's music program, Paniand his fiance left amountain village inSardinia, Italy, for St. John's in August.

A big part of Pani's research is visual, he said, and St. John's has a certain "musicality in the streets."

Pani took his camera around downtown St. John's after the first big snow fall and subsequent cleanup.

"These are really a little tour of downtown, but in some sort of way, it was guided bymusic,too," Panisays of his photographs.

Pani stopped at Fred's Records before travelling to Water Street, where Fogtown Barber & Shop"feels like really a musical place, too."

The next stop was at the corner of George and Water Streets, wherestreet musicians "play in the snow, in the rain, in the sun, everyday playing music for people passing by."

He admits he's braced himself for the worst a St. John's winter has to offer, but says for now he's just enjoying the city.

"Everybody says that it will be really,really hard to stay here in winter. I was expecting more cold for my first winter here."

Next time you sigh at boxed in cars and slippery streets, try and see St. John's through Diego Pani's eyes.