Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. (Wayne Simpson)

Photographer Wayne Simpson has taken photos in some of the harshest weather conditions in Canada, but according to the Ontario-based photographer, it is those treacherous environments that produce some of his best photos.

“In some of these photos the weather was really miserable,” Simpson told Weather.com. “I often find that the more uncomfortable I am, the more original the image, because no one else is crazy enough to be out there!”

But shooting in extreme weather conditions can be dangerous. When Simpson was on a shoot on Abraham Lake in Alberta he was blown across the lake with his tripod.

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“I had to dig my crampon into the ice and put my body against my tripod to keep shooting,” he said. “At one point my hat flew off and it took me about 20 minutes to get it back.”

At the end of that shoot Simpson’s face had suffered severe windburn, but the intrepid photographer said the traumatic shoot produced one of his “favorite images.”

Simpson got into landscape photography after seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time. Since then he’s been gripped with trying to capture nature’s beauty.

“I’ve always been mesmerized by the various moods of nature,” he said. “Once I taught myself how to translate those moods into photographs I was hooked! Instead of documenting what I see I strive to conveying what I feel.”

To capture those moods, weather plays an important role in landscape photography.

“When shooting landscapes I will typically watch the weather and figure out where the sun and moon will be and take note of things like fog, cloud cover or high winds,” Simpson explained. “When the time comes that I am in position I like … I watch for any kind of movement that might add to the photo such as clouds moving towards me, snow blowing at me, or waves crashing in an interesting way.

Above see a collection Simpson’s dramatic Canadian landscapes. To see more of his work visit his website and Facebook page.

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