Scenes From a Frozen White Rock Lake

Last week, photographer George Utkov captured something very few of us, if any of us, have ever seen before: a frozen White Rock Lake. With temperatures in the single digits, the lake iced over. The shots from above show sailboats docked in ice while others appear moored in the middle of the lake. There are some stranger ones, of ice separating as if a sample under a microscope. Take a look—the lake may never appear this way again.

George shot his images using a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone. I asked him to write some words about what he saw.

As a photographer and director, I aspire to create unique perspectives and stories that challenge the way we see and think about our world. While I am often doing this in remote corners of the globe, last week’s cold snap and winter storms provided an opportunity to do that here in Dallas.

Like millions of Texans, I too lost power and water to my home, and it was tough. The weather was brutal, and the news circuit was far from reassuring. Power outages. Flood damage. Emergency sirens. It was depressing and really cold in every sense of the word.

After doing what I could to protect my home, I grabbed my camera gear and drove to White Rock Lake to find a silver lining in the story. As an optimistic person, I knew the lake would be beautiful, yet I was blown away by what I saw.

The heavy snow and flowing ice created a dramatic landscape for such a usually tame place, and I fell in love with the patterns as seen from above. They were mesmerizing. Static yet dynamic. Light but dark. Smooth yet sharp. They mirrored the mixed feelings and concern I was experiencing internally.