Bottomless Secrets #14915

The Story

Standing at the waterline, I photographed this black and white lake landscape looking the length of a small lake surrounded by wooded hills. The shore stones in the shallow water fade away into the deeper and even blacker water, with only a few small ripples breaking the nearly still surface. The lake water fades away into deeper black depths. Who knows where the bottom is or what lies there?

Perhaps only the fish do. Old cars, cans, wedding rings, and lost fishing lures? Maybe hidden things more sinister like stolen goods ditched to hide a crime? Whatever it may be, the fish will never tell; our finned friends are likely the best secret keepers ever.

In this lake landscape infrared photograph, the water at the shoreline seems to disappear. Most of the stones are slightly under the water; the whiter of them are dry and poking out of the water. Interestingly, the eye is drawn away into the lake from those shoreline stones and onto the wooded hill beyond which is reflected in the still lake surface. An infrared photograph makes the foliage a glowing white and the water goes black, all of which makes this a more interesting scene than a typical color photograph.

Location: Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks