Each time the weather is clear enough for me to see the peak of Hudson Bay Mountain I am left at a loss. Somehow words don’t seem to adequately describe the varied emotions that I feel. But since these things I’m typing and you’re reading are words, I shall try.

I am continually amazed by things that are always the same and yet always different at the same time. In the winter, the mountains and snow are always mountains and snow. Yet there is never a day when they look exactly the same. Depending on the time of day and the weather, the shape of the mountain, the texture and colour of the snow, they all can change. Even the perspective can change depending on my proximity to Crater Lake. I find this absolutely fascinating.

I enjoyed working with this image after I got home to bring out the details in the wind-hammered snow. It was fairly early in the season so there wasn’t enough snow to cover all the undulations in the ground. It was just after 4 in the afternoon when I made this photograph, so the sun was approaching the horizon across the Bulkley Valley. This served to highlight the shadows above Crater Lake and just below the peak (which is the uppermost reach of Simpson’s Gulch). That the blue/white of the snow was slowing morphing into pink and purple was certainly pretty, however what struck me the most were the shadows and the S-shape that was standing out.

So when an scene like this is more about form than colour, that’s when I know it’s time to process the image in black and white. After I finished processing it, the final image spoke to me of power and grace. It remains to this day, one of my favourite images.

The Art of Life

Posts tagged with grace

Rugged