Ontario photographer captures massive wave that looks like 'the perfect face'

A photograph of a massive wave of Lake Erie on Nov. 16. (Facebook/Cody Evans)

Of the roughly 10,000 photographs Ingersoll, Ont., resident Cody Evans took of Lake Erie last Saturday during the lake-effect storm, one looked like something conjured up by Poseidon.

Evans told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday he has been taking photographs, primarily of wildlife and nature, since January 2020.

He said he often heads down to Lake Erie – in Port Stanley just south of London, Ont. – whenever he sees there will be high winds, which is what the forecast was calling for last Saturday.

Evans set up to shoot for a couple of hours that day – “It was pretty cold…I think it was -11 C or something” – and he couldn’t take photographs immediately due to the snow.

“When it’s snowing, it's difficult because your focus will bounce off what you’re trying to focus on,” Evans said.

But then, he says there was a 15-minute window where the sun poked through the clouds.

Photo of Lake Erie by Cody Evans. (Cody Evans)

“I watched the water, and when I see waves are gonna collide, I’ll just take a burst of photos,” Evans said, adding his Nikon Z 9 camera can take 20 photos per second.

Photo of Lake Erie by Cody Evans. (Cody Evans)

“So, you can get the whole sequence of what’s happening. Then I go through all [of] the images, and I find the ones that I like, and that one happened to be the perfect face.”

According to Evans, some of the waves that clashed against each other last Saturday were more than six metres. 

LAKE-EFFECT SNOW STORM

Last weekend, a lake-effect storm blew through parts of the province, with up to 50 centimetres of snow blanketing areas like Niagara, St. Catharines, and Grimsby.

South of the border in Buffalo, N.Y., the snowstorm buried the metro area and hit the region so hard that three people died, according to U.S. officials.

Environment Canada also issued a winter weather travel advisory for London, as the lake-effect snow showers were developing off Lake Huron.

- With files from CTV News Toronto’s Abby O’Brien and CTV News London’s Julie Atchison