The mid-September mornings on Boot Lake are a wonder to behold. The stillness and tranquillity, not a breath of wind to be felt or seen. I got up well before sunrise. Not quite dark, just enough light to see the tree line on the far shore. I quietly packed my camera gear into the canoe and silently paddled up the lake to this spot. I tried to capture a quiet moment where mist rises gently above still water, blurring edges and softening forms. The faint light coming through the haze revealed the rugged shapes of granite formations and the outlines of trees, their silhouettes steady and unyielding. This interplay between solid stone and fleeting mist creates a calm that feels both immediate and timeless.
The mist moves slowly, and the light is fragile, barely pressing against the shadow. The back-lit mist diffuses the scene, drawing attention to the contrast between the soft, rounded shapes of granite and the smooth surface of the lake. The mist, acting as a veil, transforms familiar elements, like a painterly canvas, inviting reflection in stillness.
Creating this piece meant focusing on that subtle tension—the way the mist softens but does not erase, how light reveals form without overwhelming it. The silhouettes settle firmly within the composition, anchoring the scene even as the atmosphere dissolves detail. Photography in such an environment can be an exercise in quiet balance, a moment to pause and observe the meeting of permanence and transience.
I sat in my canoe for almost twenty minutes just soaking in the beauty and stillness. Just me, the mist, and the lake, all to myself at such an early hour of the day.
Getting up so early has its drawbacks. Not having time to check my settings from the night before’s shoot, I had neglected to set my ISO to my usual 200. Consequently, this image was shot at an astounding ISO 25000. Despite that oversight, it still came out relatively clean. No noise reduction was applied in post-processing.
