Looking the other way!

Below the Dam

When looking for locations for portrait photography, I tell my students to find what they like, then turn around and look the other way. Often we miss the best light because we don’t look. I have made a habit of doing this when making landscape photographs as well. Sometimes it pays off.

One evening I was photographing from the lower dam at the lake, looking east as the sun was setting. The warm light skimming the surface of the water and lighting the shoreline on the opposite side of the lake was a wonderful sight. I thought I had what I wanted and began taking down my camera and then heard a voice inside me say, “Turn around!” I did and saw this wonderful sunset. I scrambled to the bottom of the dam and quickly found this spot where I could photograph the irrigation water as it was released into the canal and flowed toward the farmers fields.

Water is the lifeblood in this farming community. Most of my photographs of Lake Lowell are about the quiet beauty of lake and the surrounding area. This one says something more. It speaks of the necessity of the lake to this community. Without it, farmland would dry up. Jobs would be lost. Mouths would go hungry. People would move and the land would become deserted.

I love the lake for its beauty. Others love it for its recreational opportunities. To all of us it is a necessity.