Isabella Zhou

( 2026.02.14 )

The Fourteenth at Cherry Beach

Toronto’s frozen lakefront · 5:29 – 6:16 PM

Valentine's afternoon on a frozen beach — forty-five minutes of pink light going blue over the ice, couples and one happy dog out on the snow.

Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS · thirteen frames · Cherry Beach, Toronto

01 / 13

5:29 pm

The First Pink

Bare trees against a sky already going pink and gold, snowbanks at the road's end.

Cherry Beach · 6.9mm · ƒ/4 · 1/5 · ISO 80

Bare trees silhouetted against a pink and gold winter sky, snowbanks below

02 / 13

5:31 pm

The Beach Hut

The little white lifeguard hut standing alone on the snow, the lake frozen out behind it.

Cherry Beach
4.9mm · ƒ/3.2 · 1/6 · ISO 80

A small white beach hut on a snowy shore before the frozen lake

03 / 13

5:34 pm

Out for a Walk

A branch overhead, a figure and a dog gone tiny on the pink ice.

Cherry Beach · 11mm · ƒ/4.9 · 1/10 · ISO 80

A person and dog small on the frozen lake under a pink sky, a bare branch overhead

04 / 13

5:34 pm

Out on the Lake

Two people walked all the way out onto the ice, small against the pink horizon.

Cherry Beach
18.6mm · ƒ/4.9 · 1/30 · ISO 100

Two figures out on the frozen lake beside a sign, pink horizon behind

05 / 13

5:39 pm

Cloud Fire

For a few minutes the whole sky caught, streaked gold over the snow field.

Cherry Beach · 8.3mm · ƒ/3.2 · 1/800 · ISO 100

Streaky golden clouds blazing over a snowy field and bare trees
Two people standing on the snow watching the orange sun set through bare trees

06 / 13

5:44 pm

Watching It Go

Two of them standing still on the snow, watching the last of the sun burn orange through the trees. A Valentine's the quiet way.

Cherry Beach · 18.6mm · ƒ/4.9 · 1/60 · ISO 100

07 / 13

5:47 pm

Sundown

The sun a hot coal in the trees now, figures and a dog dark on the snow below.

Cherry Beach
18.6mm · ƒ/4.9 · 1/60 · ISO 80

The orange sun low through bare trees, dark figures and a dog on the snow

08 / 13

5:48 pm

Broken Ice

Down at the waterline the lake has shattered into shards, the city faint on the far shore.

Cherry Beach · 6.2mm · ƒ/2.8 · 1/160 · ISO 100

Shattered ice shards heaped along the frozen shoreline, the city faint on the horizon

09 / 13

5:55 pm

Room to Run

The dog off after nothing across the whole white field, its people trailing behind.

Cherry Beach
18.6mm · ƒ/4.9 · 1/60 · ISO 100

Two people and a running dog spread across a wide snow field, pink treeline behind

10 / 13

5:56 pm

Almost Alone

One small figure far out on the ice, the pink almost gone from the sky.

Cherry Beach · 18.6mm · ƒ/4.9 · 1/30 · ISO 100

A single small figure far out on the frozen lake under a fading pink sky
The Toronto skyline and CN Tower silhouetted through bare trees at blue dusk

11 / 13

6:05 pm

The City, Far Off

Through the trees the skyline comes up in blue, its lights just starting, the whole downtown a world away from the ice.

Cherry Beach · 18.6mm · ƒ/4.9 · 1/100 · ISO 80

12 / 13

6:15 pm

Ice and Last Pink

The bay gone blue between the bare branches, floes still drifting on the open channel, one last thread of pink at the far shore.

Cherry Beach
6.2mm · ƒ/2.8 · 1/8 · ISO 80

A frozen bay at blue dusk, ice floes framed by bare branches, a thread of pink at the far shore

13 / 13

6:16 pm

Blue Hour

A last thin band of pink at the horizon, the ice gone blue, the day letting go of the lake.

Cherry Beach · 11.6mm · ƒ/4 · 1/5 · ISO 80

Ice floes under a deep blue dusk with a thin band of pink at the horizon

( about )

I’m Isabella Zhou. Photography lends me wings toward a dreamland I haven’t found yet, and these journals are what I carry back from the flights. This journal is proof that the coldest beach in the city can be the warmest place to spend an evening, kept on the pocket Canon I carry everywhere.

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© 2026 Isabella Zhou — photographs shot on Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS