“Early Morning”

Geneva Bay in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

May 31, 2024

Looking for serenity expressed in a photograph? This one would be hard to beat, I would say.

That certainly is what I felt when I made the image on August 23, 2000, of these sailboats on Geneva Bay in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The scene is directly across from Flat Iron Park along Wrigley Drive.

Besides the calm water, probably the other key element of the photo is the fog. It serves to isolate the sailboats and their classic lines.

But, more importantly to me, the fog obliterates the far shore, which, when apparent, expresses itself as what I call the “black band.” I am fond of Geneva Lake, but sometimes I long for a larger body of water that has a “clean” horizon.

If I can jog my memory back nearly 24 years, not too long after I made this image the scene changed significantly as the fog was burned away by the warm summer sun. And, perhaps the wind picked up, ruffling the water and moving the boats.

Just as the weather changed that day, I wonder if the photo could be changed by cropping it tighter to the closest vessel. But, I liked the reflection of the mast and therefore the looser cropping.

Speaking of change, this scene cannot be duplicated today. The sailboats have been replaced by a more plentiful number of ski boats and pontoon boats. They have less appeal to me.