Dreams of a powder day…

are never far away as the season slowly kicks off.

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Keep your face always towards sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.

Walt Whitman

Images like this bring back memories of the most blissful of days. Gliding slowly uphill, keeping a close eye out for fresh powder, pristine and as yet unblemished by those who worship at the church of the chair.

Some may say the idolatry is blasphemous but for one who pays homage to snow in all of its forms I can only say “How much closer to God can you be?” On this day I can recall the silence, it was a day of such bountiful beauty that the spoken word seemed intrusive. It was a day for silence broken only by the whir of the chairlift and the hiss of the board as it slid its way through the fresh snow.

Children of the snow…church of the chair and as a good friend would tell me “When it’s this deep, keep your tip up!”

As she disappeared down through the trees following a line spotted from the chair, I can still hear her laughter pealing like church bells through the silence…

Drawn to the simplicity…

of this rural farming scene.

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farming

Simplicity is the glory of expression.

Walt Whitman

I would have loved the opportunity to move around and set up the perfect composition for this shot but sometimes you just come upon something that grabs your attention.

With the rapidly sinking sun I had but a moment to get this shot and something about its simplicity appeals to me. It’s not a grand bridge, a lone tree or a craggy mountain backlit by the sun; some of the things I would ordinarily seek out for a sunset.

It’s just the end of the day in a farming community where the days are long and success depends on the vagaries of nature.

Scenes like this one remind me to be grateful that I live in a country with vast, beautiful open spaces where every inch is not covered in concrete. As the light faded and the temperature cooled I was left only with the sound of grains rustling in the faint breeze and small creatures settling in for the evening…

sim·plic·i·ty
[sim-plis-i-tee]
clear and uncomplicated.