Day 140 - Along the St. Lawrence River

I wish I could tell you where precisely we found this scene. I know it's along the St. Lawrence River somewhere, just west of Kamouraska, on your way to Quebec City. I took more than a hundred photos as we made our way peacefully down to Quebec, visiting small town after small town, including a wonderful stop in Kamouraska for baked treats.

This photo was taken on the grounds of one of the many gorgeous Catholic churches that dot the landscape, one church per town, and combines a number of very beautiful elements, including the statue, the tree and the lovely building next door.

This shot is all about the composition, getting the balance right and making sure we've got all of the elements properly placed. I kept the aperture as small as possible to give me the depth of focus required to capture the elements.

I include the second shot because I felt I have to include at least one picture of the river itself. It's an awesome presence and, on this day, was remarkably calm, its surface like glass.

The problem I faced was that, no matter how you look at it, no matter how you attempt to photograph it, the St. Lawrence River presents an extremely horizontal image. I know that sounds ridiculous (of course a river is horizontal) but it was difficult to find a way to photograph the mountains in the distance and the river in the foreground in an interesting way without losing something. Either you're too close and you lose the majesty of the river or you're too far away and you lose any sense of verticality. I did my best, however, and it's not a bad result.