This series is an ongoing yearly winter project that takes me to the harsh granite coastal barrens marked by pockets of brackish ice pools, briny air, windswept vegetation and very little protection from the elements.
This is an area I hold close to my heart, for it is also the crash site locality of Swissair Flight 111 that crashed on Sept 2, 1998, and claimed the lives of 229 people. That horrific night and the weeks following are forever etched in my mind - the anguish and sorrow, but also the strength and compassion of people. My father's remains are buried at the coast here, too, and in many ways, this project is a tribute to him and the many others whose lives have been senselessly cut short.
This is a harsh landscape, but it is in its fine impermanent details of textural and structural beauty that I find quiet contemplation and solace.
Ice can take on poetic imaginative designs almost like its own creative lines of writing. These are thin sheets of ice expanding over shallow wetlands usually after flooding from heavy rains followed by rapid freeze.
This project of ‘impressions’ is meant to express the possibility of discovery. The thought process is intuitive and guided by being mindful in the present surroundings. Nature’s processes leave us with many impressions to discover for ourselves.
Nova Scotia is almost completely surrounded by water so it is just about impossible to avoid photographing water motion some of the time. I much prefer compositions that show a certain amount of motion. Experimenting with exposures until there is just enough structure in the water can produce a painterly effect. Often times there are even pleasant surprises like finding slow moving whirlpools of foam, or coniferous needles that are best rendered with a slow exposure.
Lily stalks, Canada holly sprig, and charcoal
