Into The Light

One spring evening in May, I visited a number of lakes in the Northern parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan looking for an eye catching landscape to shoot. This particular location, as it turns out, happened to be around the corner from where I captured ‘The First Flight’. Although the colour and landscape was incredibly simple, the resulting image is paradoxically striking.

When I first arrived at this dock there were clouds in the sky that looked quite promising, offering me a dynamic scene. The clouds would not only shift the landscape in front of me but would continually adjust the lighting too.

As I waited the following two hours for the perfect lighting offered by the sunset, the clouds had already burned away. The resulting look was a pale and cloudless sky that actually ended up being evenly lit. A cloudy sky is typically my preference, as it gives some depth to the photograph and usually adds more colour to the image. Still, I was happily surprised with the result of this particular cloudless sunset.

The dock, only months away from summertime use, really pulls the eye into the photo by stretching endlessly into the horizon, almost as if reaching to fill the gap between the two converging mountain ranges in front of it. The partially ice and snow covered lake appears to subtly recede into the distance, the first signs that the frozen effects of the harsh winter are beginning to thaw. The trees, silhouetted and lining the background are perfectly mirrored into the frigid, glass-like water below.

The soft lighting strips the deep green hues of the foliage, instead replacing it with the illusion of blackness. Above the trees, the skyline, in the midst of sunset, pops with burning yellows and oranges. Separating the sky from the lake, the white band of snow carves a prominent band through the landscape.

I spent roughly 3 hours here, the first and only time I visited.  Intending to watch the setting sun, I captured Into the Light at 7:30PM.