Ice and Sky

Fuji X10 7mm f9 at 1/1000 ISO 800 The subtlety of the colours on an ice-covered, winter lake is amazing.

During the holidays my family and I went back to the prairies to spend time with family.  Every time I go back I am struck by the skys.  I live now in the mountains and the forest and we are so often closed in from the sky.  There is something important and vital about being able to be alone with yourself in the middle of a giant sky that reaches down to the horizon on every side of you.  It gives you a sense of perspective that is lacking in the forest or in the shadow of a mountain. 

I am really enjoying my new camera.  The Fuji X10 has a leaf shutter so it is able to synch with the flash very reliably up to 1/1000 of a second and that means I can take pictures that are otherwise impossible.  In the photo above I was down on the ice pointing my camera directly into the sinking sun.  In normal circumstances that requires an exposure that would have thrown the ice and snow into deep shadow.  Either that or I allow the sun to blow out.  With the X10 I can keep my shutter speed high to keep detail in the sunset and use the flash to expose the snow and ice effectively.  I loved the geometric patterns in the ice and so I laid my flash down on the ice to my left and allowed the light to skitter across the ice and bounce off the snow bank on the left.  I really liked the way that it turned out.

-Russell Berg

Fuji X10 7mm f11 at 1/680 ISO 200 I love the way playing with perspective and a wide angle lens can make this relatively small formation seem much larger.