Don't Slip and Niagara Fall!

Contents: About the Collection | About the About Page | Tech

About the Collection

Although Canada may be infamous for our cold, snowy winters and beautiful landscapes regardless of season, Niagara Falls lives as a historic scene of unprecedented natural phenomena and a unique environment that only intensifies in the winter. This intimidating force of nature produces extraordinary sights and organic anomalies in the forms of massive mounds of slick snow across the frozen Niagara River, or icicles that stretch meters long and across hanging from sharp edges of the escarpment, and so much more.

This collection of images includes several photographs displaying these icy structures as well as some images that offer the opportunity to analyze the long-term effects of weather conditions as extreme as these, on a unique environment such as Niagara Falls. By comparing images of the same scenery in Niagara Falls through the 19th century alone, we can see how the winter weather conditions can have such large impacts on certain parts of the natural landscape as well as manmade structures, such as the Inclined Railway

One particular aspect of Niagara’s scenery that is interesting to compare visuals of throughout the long 19th century and to our present-day perspective of what remains, is the Table Rock on the Canadian side of the Falls. Table Rock is located just to the left of Horseshoe Falls and acted as a great photo-op for the more daring tourists as well as a base for several of the colossal icicles that are photographed and included in this collection as well. By using the Timeline feature, we are better able to visualize how Table Rock began to further deteriorate from the intimidating overhanging of escarpment to the small ledge of grass that remains today next to the Table Rock Welcome Center. Alongside the fact that it used to act as a popular lookout for tourists and received a lot of foot traffic, it is no doubt that the tons of snow and ice that would collect above and below the fragment of rock throughout centuries of winters added to its inevitable dive into the water below.

Another natural phenomenon that is a focus of this collection that is even more intimidating than a snow covered ledge hanging 50m above the bottom of a waterfall, is the elusive Ice Bridge that stretched from the Canadian shore across the frozen river to the left corner of the American Falls. Layers upon layers of thick ice and snow piled on top of the frozen Niagara River, creating a slick, snowy and hilly passage that enticed tourists from all over. As the bridge began to melt under the coming spring sun, the ice forms on the walkway began to change from perfectly round hills to disformed chunks of ice and a dodgy stroll by the water.

The power of nature and its effect on the environment and conditions of Niagara Falls are evident throughout this collection as we analyze its creations and impact especially throughout the wintertime, but this leads to the question of why are the images so powerful despite the obvious natural aspects? The perspectives and techniques used by the photographer in most, if not all, of these images complement and intensify this power of nature that was explored throughout all art styles quite attentively in the 19th century. Specifically, landscape photography grew in popularity with the rise in vacationing and tourism in nature to escape the industrialisation taking over big cities, as well as the innovation of cameras and popularization of photography (Cronin, 2021). These technological aspects in consideration along with a creative eye and sense of light and proportion, the perspective that the photographer is able to create enhances the feeling that the landscape and items within offer the viewer. While enjoying this collection, I invite you to consider this idea of perspective and how it may alter your viewing of the images.