Now and then, I love to visit and capture the scenes found on some of our picturesque island farms here on Salt Spring Island. And for many years, my photographer brother and I admired one such farm nestled in Burgoyne Valley at the south end of the island, but always from outside its gate entrance. However, this past mid-December, we met the owner, Gay, and she kindly invited us in to take as many photos as we liked. It was thrilling! I wandered through the fields, and with the softening effect of the mist, my images were akin to pastel paintings.
Our winters here are usually when the mist glides through the trees and over the mountains and valleys, transforming the island into an ethereal mecca for us landscape photographers. But sometimes, a blanket of snow creates even more dramatic scenes. And just before Christmas, a surprise snowfall arrived, and Gay kindly invited us to capture the winter wonderland outside her door before it was washed away in the rain.
The following day, we headed down to the island's south end well before dawn, and while we waited for the sun to rise high enough to cast a warm glow over the snowy fields, we marvelled at the haloed globe over calm waters at Fulford Harbour.
By the time we arrived at the farm, an otherworldly alpenglow had tinted the pristine snow on the sloped roofs of the worn barns, which were now spectacular. And I was drawn once more to the fields looking over to Mount Maxwell, which, to me, had become a giant creature with bristly fur, its wintry profile rising as it stretched silently out under those windswept cirrus clouds on that serene morning.
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