When an old friend invited me out to his cabin on Lake Winnipeg the week between Christmas and New Year 2018, when the College where I work as a librarian is closed, I jumped at the chance. Even though it looked like a great opportunity to just relax, I couldn’t stop myself from scouting potential photo opportunities online. That’s when I came across pictures of wonderfully colourful and quirky fishing huts out on the Lake in winter. I was inspired by photographers such as Richard Johnson (his Ice Hut series) and other photographers who have been drawn to ice fishing huts over the years, to think about creating a series of my own.
View from the cabin - right onto the lake.
Frozen Lake Winnipeg.
My friend Todd and I had gone to graduate school together many years before and hadn’t seen each other since then, but we had kept in contact through Facebook. We ended up having a great time and, even though he’s not a photographer, he was happy to drive me around to multiple locations around the Lake to photograph ice fishing huts and other minimalist winter scenes with me.
The photography started the very day I arrived. From the airport (in Winnipeg) we drove north and visited a few places I’d scouted online - abandoned homesteads and schools. We then drove to Gimli where I saw ice fishing huts out on the ice for the first time. In preparation for the trip, I’d been checking the webcam at Gimli harbour almost daily, seeing the huts slowly appear on the ice, but now I could see them in person. I was thrilled to see them! We walked out onto the ice and I shot my first few images. I tried a few different types of compositions, but pretty early on, I decided that the huts looked best from kneeling height. That’s how I shot them the rest of the trip.
Ice fishing huts on Lake Winnipeg.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was the day we went out and set up his ice fishing tent. The ice fishing huts I was photographing are semi-permanent. When the ice gets thick enough, they are towed onto the lake and left there for the winter. Many people, though, set up ice fishing tents just to fish for the day.
To do that, first holes had to be drilled into the ice with an auger. Given that the ice was over 2 feet thick, this was no small task. Next the tent has to be secured to the ice, and then the fishing could begin!
Drilling holes with the auger
Ice fishing hole.
The ice fishing tent all set up.
After the tent was set up, we left some friends to fish and we drove out across the lake to shoot some of the ice fishing huts. That was great fun, augmented by the adventure of getting stuck in a drift the consistency of concrete. We tried to dig ourselves out, but we finally got pulled out pulled out by some friendly and helpful fishermen.
Out on the ice looking for interesting huts to photograph.
Getting a tow, or rather a yank, off that drift.
Best place to be with -40C windchill.
One day, when the sun was shining - not my favourite light - we drove around scouting some other sites I’d found online. We had fun exploring the interlake region for abandoned schools and homesteads, but nothing we found was as compelling to photograph as the huts.
Another day, when I was on my own, I spent about three hours walking around Gimli harbour. I covered about 5 kilometres (said my FitBit) and must have shot 30 fishing huts. It was incredibly fun. As most photographers know you very, very rarely have the opportunity to shoot so many compelling objects in close proximity like that. Some trips, I’m lucky if I come back with 10 images I like shot over 10 days, but there on one day, in a few hours, I shot 10 images that made it into the final series. It was rare ‘easy pickings’ for a photographer!
On my last day at the cabin Manitoba was under an Extreme Cold Warning. It was below -30 with a windchill of -40 (for my American friends who are wondering what that is in Fahrenheit, -40 if where the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales meet!), so this was a great day to stay inside and warm my feet by the wood stove.
I had a fantastic time on this trip. What started out as a lovely, kind invitation from an old friend, turned into a wonderful trip filled with adventure and a great photographic opportunities.
You can see the series of ice fishing hut images in its gallery.