Haida Gwaii Mystical

I was tracking swallows in Gwaii Haannas National Park with an old logging boom in the foreground. It was a perfectly still and foggy morning with almost perfect reflection. This one missed the bird but caught its reflection in multiple fragmented reflections. I inverted the image.

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I find the image has a kind of mystical or surreal feel. I wasn’t sure whether to put it in landscape, non-nature or abstract…but it seems abstract to me. I ambivalent about it, but thought I’d post and see what kind of reaction it gets.

Technical Details

16mm apsc; 1/400s; f8.0; ISO400

Hi Charles, this is an interesting image. At first glance, I thought it was more of a scene that would fit the traditional landscape category but as I explored, I found the image had more abstract qualities. I didn’t realize this was a reflection shot until I read your caption. I think by not having the bird reflected at the bottom definitely amps up the mystical feel to the image. Nicely seen and presented.

This one took me a couple of minutes to figure. When I learned that you had flipped it, it all made sense. At first, I thought it might be snowing since there were little white spots in the trees but now I know they are just remnants of something floating in the water. This one really gets you thinking for sure.

Thanks for the comments. I think they made me realize why I am ambivalent about this picture. The fragments and twists could be interesting, but in this case there is no really story to tell so its just a little puzzle to unpack. But it gives me the idea of maybe trying some double exposure or collage with more intention next time. Thanks for the comments.