Rivers and waterways

Water is the other half of the prairie landscape for me. Rivers, marshes, and northern lakes give black and white a lot to work with: still surfaces that double the sky, dark channels that cut through pale grass, and fast water that turns white against black rock.

Without colour, reflections become the subject. A spruce shoreline and its mirror image turn into a pattern of shape and tone, and a grey spring sky is something to build the picture around rather than something to wait out.

Many of these were made in spring, when the ice is leaving and the water is open but the trees are still bare. The rest come from summer and autumn mornings at marshes, rivers, and lakes around Manitoba.

Dark river bend lined with tall pines reflected in still water

Photos

  • Dramatic clouds and a flock of geese over a bridge and river
  • Cloud-streaked sky reflected in a still marsh channel with cattails
  • Dark river bend lined with tall pines reflected in still water
  • Whitewater pouring over smooth dark rock ledges
  • Ice-choked river beneath a long steel bridge under a heavy sky
  • Marshy shoreline with spruce trees reflected in dark water
  • Power lines and a hydro dam across a river
  • Lift bridge over a flooded river, reflected in still water
  • Still water in a spring marsh beneath a patterned sky
  • Rippled shallow water and sand flats under heavy clouds
  • Icy creek winding through bare trees in early spring
  • Steel bridge girders over fast water with a log on the bank
  • Mist over a river with a distant church steeple
  • Rock bluff and spruce forest reflected in a still northern lake
  • Bare tree on the riverbank with a bridge and broken ice behind it
  • Frozen river curving through reeds and bare trees
  • Water tumbling through a rocky channel
  • Churning water in a concrete spillway channel seen from above
  • Beaver lodge beside a still marsh channel
  • Narrow channel winding through spruce and bare willows
  • Forested rocky hill beyond a reedy lake shore
  • Calm lake bordered by spruce trees on a grey spring day

Back to black and white photography, or see prairie landscape photography.

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