Samhain Dreams Abstract Photography

10/31/2020  |  Willow Heights Conservation Area

My wife and I took a quick hike on on Saturday October 31, 2020 to Willow Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. I was hoping to get a photograph of the late fall aspen trees reflecting in the water and I was able to pull off a great shot! Check out the video of our little adventure!

abstract refection of forest in water.
Samhain Dreams
Willow Lake, Utah

Samhain (pronounced in the Irish "Sow" as in the female pig and "in") is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or "darker half" of the year. In the northern hemisphere it is held on 1 November with celebrations beginning on the evening of 31 October, as the Celtic day began and ended at sunset.

I have always loved Halloween, yet the older I get the less I seem to be inclined to participate with decorations and candy. October 31, 2020 found my wife and I taking an afternoon hike with no intentions of being home for trick or treaters. We live close to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Salt lake Valley so we headed up this canyon for a hike to Willow Lake. It was a wonderful late fall day, sunny and warm yet the autumn colors had all faded. I took my camera gear because you never know what you might find. The lake had ice in the shady sections and snow on the shoreline but I knew I would find something to photograph. I watched this reflection on the water and loved it so I set up and waited for a break in the wind to capture this abstract reflection of aspen trees and willows reflecting in the water. I love how this turned out, like a dream of an ancient Celtic forest on Samhain Eve.


Willow Heights Conservation Area was established in 2001 in a partnership with Salt Lake City and the Quality Growth Commission, Utah Open Lands aided in the preservation of 155 acres of prime open space in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. This significant piece of land, once destined to be divided and sold for the construction of second homes and condo development, will now forever harbor a diverse population of wildlife, a source of public recreation, and protection of an important source of drinking water for the residents of the Salt Lake Valley.