Sunrises and big skies

The prairie gives you the whole sky, and it uses all of it. On a clear evening the sun slides down to a horizon so flat and far away that the colour seems to start at your feet and keep going, and in the morning the same thing happens in reverse.

I chase the edges of the day: the half hour before sunrise, when everything is blue and still, and the half hour after sunset, when the clouds catch fire from underneath. Big skies need something small to measure them against, so I look for silhouettes such as a lone tree, a combine at work in a field, or a creek winding through the snow.

Some of these skies lasted only a few minutes. The sun dogs and halos come from cold winter mornings, when ice crystals hanging in the air bend the light into rings and bright spots on either side of the sun. I have learned to arrive early, set up quickly, and stay until the last colour has gone.

Photos

Back to prairie landscape photography, or see Manitoba bird photography.