Sometimes, it’s the perfect combination of environment and timing that creates a stunning photo. Gina Walseth recognized the beauty of the moment immediately upon spying this scene. She whipped out a substitute camera—her cell phone. “Ideally, I would’ve used my Canon 5D Mark IV with a 70-200 lens, but sometimes it’s just about capturing the moment, getting your composition correct and having your image create a feeling,” Walseth explains.
Great photos are often the result of recognizing a perfect visual in everyday life. Her kids were at their neighborhood lake, fishing poles casting through the air, when Walseth walked down to make sure they had bug spray. There, she was able to get the perspective she needed to see the shot before it was even captured.
The moment was as golden as the timing, just before sunset. With soft, dreamy colors and a completely still lake, the reflected fluffy clouds above made the kids appear to be floating. “It looked like they were fishing into another world,” Walseth says. She recalls thinking of a scene from The BFG, a fantasy, adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg.
Her kids never caught any fish that night, but Walseth sure caught a whopper.
This photo placed second in the Activities & Events category of the 2017 Focus on Maple Grove photo contest.
A Haiku: Midday
Cloud ribbons on wings
Dramatic cerulean sky
A feast for the eye.
—Tara Estacaan
