Halfway Lake is in Northern Ontario, Canada on the southern edge of the boreal forest. The area was hit by a tornado on July 28, 2002. It travelled in a relatively straight line cutting a swath over one kilometre wide at its widest for a total of 5.4 kilometres. The damage path at the lake was about 4 kilometres long and about 200 metres wide. The resulting devastation was absolute—tracks of forest levelled with almost every tree either snapped or uprooted.

I visited the area after the tornado had passed through. It was raining heavily but the rain was beginning to dissipate. Traversing the areas hit by the tornado was a bit of a challenge…wet, muddy, water pooling everywhere, wind blowing trees around, tree roots upended, broken tree trunks and debris scattered everywhere. 

This collection of photographs of the tornado’s devastation were taken over a period of one day as the weather was subsiding. I’ve been contemplating these for many years thinking about how to make them best reflect the feeling of being there: the wind, the rain, the eerie light, the smells of water and mud, the sheer volume and extent of the damage, the experience of standing in front of it all a soon after it happened. I believe the resulting photographs come close…at least for me they do.

For the photographers reading this…

I used a 35mm Olympus 35 SP rangefinder camera (a classic film photography gem) and a medium format Mamiya C330 Professional f twin lens reflex camera with a 55mm f4.5 wide angle lens and an 80mm f2.8 normal lens. I took all of these shots using a green filter on Kodak Tri-X black and white film. I developed the rolls of film using a split-development method with Kodak D-76 developer. The negatives were then scanned and digitally edited and printed.

These photographs are available in an archival pigment print limited edition series of three. All prints are numbered, signed and come with a certificate of authenticity. Only one edition of prints will be made of these images.

Individual works priced at $750 CAD unless otherwise noted.

Michael Christidis