The frozen floodplains of the IJssel River, close to village called Zalk. When I got there in the morning everything was snow-covered and frozen with a lot of hoarfrost in the trees. That night it had been minus 22 degrees Celsius. So, arctic circumstances dominated the landscape, to say the least. The previous month the water level of the river IJssel were getting higher and the floodplains got inundated. Not long after that happened a period of frost came, so the floodplains froze solid and, on top of that, a small layer of snow covered most of the ice.

Because the river remained unfrozen, there was a coming and going of mist, and every 5 minutes the whole scenery and atmosphere changed dramatically. With the sun trying to do its best to peer through the mist, which sometimes succeeded, but often the mist came back creating a mystical atmosphere. As you can see, the centre of the picture is formed by a huge Willow, full of hoar frost. On the left side you can see the tracks of a Hare.The light, backlight on this picture, was superb! It was maybe the most rewarding photo session of my life till so far.

This place is most interesting during Winter and also in Spring when everything starts to bloom again. Actually, this picture was taken very close to where I live.