Crimson

I have many fond memories of my younger years. Some of the best ones came from sailing a 21’ Clipper Marine on this lake with my good friend. To cherish the memories, I wanted to capture a shot as vivid as the memories I hold.

Being in the prairies, storms often roll in fast. On this lake, I’ve witnessed dead calm water quickly transition to roaring ten-foot waves and everything in between. Storms at sunset and photographed just so, are reminiscent of impressive paintings.

To shoot Crimson, I rushed to find a good location with the sun rapidly setting in front of me. With two locations in mind, I quickly stopped at this one and then went up the road to look at the second. As I pulled up to the second location I instantly felt that I needed to get back to the first location as fast as I could. With my eyes on the lake, the storm clouds began to take shape as the lighting changed with every passing minute.

Returning to the first location, I was just in time to setup and start capturing the scene as it was unfolding in front of me. During the entire sunset I had this location to myself. I was able to sit and quietly and reflect. I gave thought to life in general, growing up in the prairies, and the old days of sailing on this lake. Back to simpler times, when my biggest worry was our stash of Heineken secretly hidden from our parents in the confines of the sailboat, and how much sail area we needed to get the boat humming through the waves.

When I look at this image I’m instantly reminded of the old adage “Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning”. The sky seemed to maintain a bright red hue for what seemed like an eternity. Although, I felt lost in the sunset as I began shooting again, the sun quickly dipped below the horizon. As the sun receded, the colours became deeper and deeper until eventually the entire scene vanished into the night.