Arctic Mark in Stanley Park

Paulatuk Sun Blizzard Panorama

I stepped out the back (front?) door of the airport building to snap this shot of the sun blazing through the ground blizzard. I am still struck by how strange, and strangely beautiful, this scene is, and how much it reminds me of paintings of alien landscapes on the covers of fantasy or sci-fi novels, except that there's only one sun, and no three-headed aliens or futuristic spaceships and Jetson-like buildings. Despite the absence of all of these things, this photo jumped out at me as the first choice for this month's Gallery cover, and I doubt it will be replaced, unless I have a run-in with a polar bear or a wolf pack over the next few weeks and manage to snap a few pictures with one hand while fending them off with my trusty survival knife in the other. You know, it would almost be worth it....