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A Canadian photographer’s stunning images of frigid Lake Erie’s “liquid mountains” have gone viral.

Dave Sandford of London, Ont., spent two to three days a week over a four week span capturing the raw power and force of one of Canada’s Great Lakes.

In a recent blog post, the long-time professional sports photographer explained that “oceans and lakes beckon” him and that he focused on Lake Erie at a time of year “when the Great Lakes can act more like oceans than lakes.”

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His photo essay dubbed Liquid Mountains: I Captured Lake Erie On The Day It Came Alive And Showed Its True Power has been viewed almost 300,000 times, and the photographer has received comments from around the world.

“I’m blown away. I’ve never, I guess maybe in my photography career I’ve always hoped something like this might happen,” Sandford told Global News in reaction to the viral success of his work. “I’ve been shooting professional sports for 18 years….sports pictures go viral but the big part of that is because of the famous athlete in the picture.

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“Quite often your name is, unfortunately, not attached to that. With this stuff it’s my own content and I have had this passion for nature and wildlife photography since I was a kid. To have something like this happen, I’ve never expected anything remotely close to this.”

Sandford said he would make the 45 minute drive from his hometown and spend upwards of six hours a day photographing the lake. With the temperature ranging from -2C up to 14C, the photographer explained that waves would reach 25 feet in height.

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To capture some of his breathtaking images, the photographer would wade out into the lake some 500 feet from the shores of Port Stanley.

“It is days like these that most people stay away from the lake…It’s days like these, when Erie comes alive, showing it’s true power,” he wrote on BoredPanda, the popular art and photography creative community site.

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Sandford said that he’s been responding to hundreds of print orders and media requests for days now and still can’t comprehend how viral his images have gone.

“I’ve read a few messages from people…I’m a very emotional person and this has really hit me,” the photographer said, admitting he’s been very emotional by the responses.

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Sandford said he plans to continue his project and is already looking ahead to next week’s weather forecast to get back in the water.

You can view more of Sandford’s work here.