They say "When you find your passion, you will know." And I knew. I had found a home in nature and photography, this was where life made sense, where I felt happy and fulfilled. It meant I would have to make a U-turn in my life that baffled my friends and family, as I had the makings for "success". I had a physics graduate degree, worked as a university research scientist in the United States, and then in a commercial research laboratory in Canada. A promising career lay ahead.

There was no turning back, it was a call I could not ignore. And so I spent every free minute after, and before work, photographing my natural surroundings, learning about photography and improving my craft. I lived in Kingston, Ontario which is right next to Lake Ontario. In the winter it would freeze over and turn into a wonderland. In the mornings, before work, I ventured out on the frozen surface, at temperatures as low as -30 C, with a warm coffee waiting in my car to warm me up, although by the time I returned it was at best lukewarm! It may be white, flat, virtually featureless and, oh yes, really cold, but this frozen landscape is one of my favourite locations worldwide to photograph and explore. The possibilities are endless, and the beauty of the interplay between ice, snow and light exquisite and unique.

This image counts as one of my favourites from the three years I spent photographing Lake Ontario: An embankment of ice, built from ice fragments that washed ashore after storms had shattered the lake's frozen surface, glitters in the warm light of the rising sun. I loved how the textures of the cloudy sky complemented those of the frozen surface, touched by the first light of day. A combination of elements that could have turned out to be somewhat random and chaotic, but surprisingly forms an ordered whole.

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