I woke this morning having dreamed.  And, I woke with intention to make good use of this day for photography.  My progress to my truck and terrain was slowed … Life got in the way is an expression taken to mean that where and when there’s a task that needs done that helps others it needs to be done, presently. I got the business done. And, before getting underway I enlisted my daughter’s help in pinning a map of our municipal district (all six feet worth of map) to the west wall in our garage above the work bench.  We also pinned a map of High Level above our freezer on the east wall of the garage.  With both, the intention is to locate places and subjects of previous photographs as a means to sort out return visits or new places to explore. By 2:00 p.m., I was on the road having shifted from staying within our municipal district (the size of three smaller European countries) to northward travel to Alexandra Falls and to Hay River – both in the Northwest Territories.  I arrived at the falls by 5:00 p.m. and saw the curious way it had iced over and pushed ice over the falls.  An hour later I was in Hay River investigating what happens to its ship yards in winter;  you’d never think that you would drive north to find the largest inland lake in the world, the Great Slave Lake, a lake making use of trawlers and barges, a lake needing more than a few vessels of the Canadian Coast Guard.

The photographs show Alexandra falls and its ice.  Dimensions to grasp – the far wall that river drops down is a 60 foot drop; so, that clump of ice that has fallen over the falls this winter is huge – in height and volume equal to a small two story house.  The next photographs are of boats that have been pulled ashore and are not presently used.  The first shot is of three derelict boats pulled far into the woods, left to rot. The ships are those at the Hay River shipyard close to the southern tip of the Great Slave Lake; at -22C, with wind from the lake, it was a cold time capturing these images – my camera will lock up when it  and its battery is cold.

While I would have preferred to see all of this in daylight it was good gathering these photographs.  For these and others I was using exposure bracketing because I want to investigate High Dynamic Range photography (probably with Photomatix – thank you’s to Shuttertime’s Mac and Sid for encouraging this).  Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the day/evening was being alone with the wind and the sounds of northern winter on the west bank above Alexandra falls.  Good schtuff!

Listening to – a lot of CBC tonight – DNTO and a theme of walking in another’s shoes; also am intrigued to see that John Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has had a remake and should be out next Friday – Le Carre’s novels were the light reading during university and my son and I have enjoyed Alec Guiness as George Smiley.  Music – David Gray’s Silver Lining from his White Ladder album.

Quote to Inspire – “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” ~ Elliott Erwitt