Ice on the Skokie Lagoons during a Snowstorm


In the midst of December, I trekked along the muddy banks of the Skokie Lagoon 
near sunset and dusk when gradually clots of falling snow fogged the forest and 
piled onto sheets of ice over the water. It was cold and icy so I had walked to 
the Willow Road Dam and maintained a reasonable distance from that road so
 that the journey home wouldn't be too arduous. As I ventured away from the Dam,
 the sheets of ice produced interesting patterns and the dense forest seemed more 
and more expansive.



Landscapes without a subject rely on vertical gradient and design. When I saw 
the circles in the snow I knew that I was too low to solely fame the photograph on 
the design on the ice and would need incorporate the trees and fog into the composition. 
The branches that hung over me-- always intruding into river compositions-- 
add to the surreal and almost finite scene, creating a ceiling from the viewer's 
perspective. At the same time, the dots leading the viewer's eye towards the dense, 
fog-filled forest is somewhat eerie.

Taken in December 2012
Winnetka

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