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The trip
starts and ends in Calgary, so I always take my groups to a couple
of spots with skyline views, and downtown too if time permits.
I like to play with light, shadow and angles, so this one appealed
to me. A bit of colour would have helped. |
| One
of the skyline viewpoints with this one looking across the
Saddledome at the downtown area. The oil business brought
prosperity to Calgary, and most of the buildings were built in
recent decades. |
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Sure, we'd like to
have good light on this North American Black Bear, plus a
catch-light in the eye, but sometimes a silhouette works just as
well.
Shots such as these are really about anticipation and preparedness,
by which I mean having a long lens at the ready, and the body set on
drive mode. |
| Take
away the soft yellow background and this Oxeye daisy loses it's
impact. |
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Sunset at Vermillion
Lake with Mount Rundle reflected. Rather than a 'clean' reflection I
opted for the foreground interest of boulder and grass. |
A
healthy Bull Elk near Jasper. When out shooting landscapes it helps
to have a second body and long lens on hand for opportunities such
as this.
This was actually shot in pretty low light, but the advantage of
digital is that one can increase the ASA for just the one subject if
need be. |
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An Alpine Lily above
Lake O'Hara in Yoho National Park. I did my best to include a dark
background to give the lily more prominence. |
| Above
Lake O'Hara again on an extremely steep mountainside. It's not
compositionally stunning, but is more about a sense of place. |
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This was a Coyote in
Jasper National Park that was wondering both sides of the road, and
gave the group a couple of chances for a shot.
At one point it was on my side, and I was able to grab this from the
driver's seat. |
I
figure that if we eat at a particular lodge south of Jasper we can
photograph their colourful Adirondack chairs!
This type of image I categorize as 'still life on the run', with
the main ingredients being any from shape, colour, form, pattern
and so on.
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Lake Louise in Banff
national park, and yes we were blessed with great early light, but
the year this was taken the group had to endure two cloudy
mornings first!
A wide-angle low to the water is the most striking shot of this
scene in my opinion. |
| Lake
Louise again on a moody morning this time. Only once in 3 hours did
the Victoria Glacier show itself, though we did take 45 minutes for
breakfast while we waited to be honest! |
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You don't get these type of shots on
'sunny days', but changeable weather will always change the artist's
palette and present my groups with something new every few minutes.
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Takkakaw
Falls in Yoho national park which
plummets
spectacularly off the Daly Glacier.
I've nothing to add except that the shutter speed for waterfalls
'should' be above 125th of a second, and slower than a 15th.
Anything in between and the water looks 'ugly'! |
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I've been taking groups to the Canadian
Rockies since 1990, but I can't recall seeing a Coyote in the region
prior to this one in 2004.
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A Canadian Pacific diesel approaches
Field on the British Columbia side of the continental divide.
With trains around a mile long, they often block the only road into
Field, but I still manage to get in and out the small town for lunch
with my groups!
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The dignified old
English lady of Jasper national park, Mt. Edith Cavell. It's a bit
of a long, windy and rough trip from Jasper for the sunrise shot,
but it's worth it as you can see.
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| This
was taken in a stream fed by Mt. Edith Cavell, and the colour in
the water is produced by the reflected light on the side of the
mountain. |
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This Bull Moose was another bonus of
an early start, as once the sun is up during the summer months
they'll bed down in a shady spot, and not be visible for several
hours.
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An Aspen grove north of
Jasper provides some symmetry, and compositional challenges. I'm a
firm believer that these kind of shots can suffer from the contrast
of direct sun, and therefore are best taken on overcast days.
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Having taken lunch in Field one day
we were 'trapped' for a little while by the train, and turned our
attention to the town. Obviously you can tell that I'm impressed by
the sight of a cross set against a towering mountain!
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The trick when photographing
Bluebells/Harebells and other flora, is to keep your film plane -
OK, camera plane - parallel to the subject.
That way it should stay in focus from top to bottom as with this one
which was exposed at something like f.5.6. That f-stop is not
normally conducive to sufficient depth of field, but having the
camera's plane the same as the subject's did the trick.
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This is Emerald Lake in Yoho national
park, and is purely a 'postcard' shot in all reality. Let's face it,
I wasn't about to turn down some red canoes now was I?!
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This is
Herbert Lake at the bottom of the Columbia Icefield Parkway, and a
great spot for sunrise or sunset.
Make sue you have a wide-angle and a polariser if you go there.
This is actually 2 shots merged together in Photoshop CS. |
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South of Lake Louise is Moraine Lake
which is nestled in the 'Valley of the Ten Peaks'. It used to appear
on the Canadian $20 bill, but with the decline of the Canadian
dollar it's now only worth $18.32. Ahem, just a joke.
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One
thing I've always told my groups to bank on is a good shot of a
Pika at Moraine Lake. However, on our two visits in 2004 not a
single Pika was spotted [or striped], and the dominant ground
squirrel was the Golden Mantle like this one.
Oh well, he makes for a cute shot doesn't he? |
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This is Athabasca Falls south of
Jasper, with my technique for the 'soft' water being a long lens on
a tripod, plus the use of a shutter speed at around a second.
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| Yes,
you do see Big Horn Sheep hanging around a salt-lick at the side
of a highway in Jasper national park, but one needs to be ready
when a sheep steps away and into it's natural habitat. |
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Sunrise on Patricia Lake north of
Jasper, and the
distant Trident mountain range.
Again you can see that the use of a tripod and a wide-angle make the
shot a little bit more special.
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| Same as
above, but with just the right amount of clouds around this time.
The foregrounds for both are similar, but which one do you prefer? |
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A rainbow over Pyramid lake in Jasper
National Park. It's not the greatest composition in the world, but
when you can get 'em you take 'em! |
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This pair of Loons, and I mean that
in a nice way, were the reward for an early start on the group's
last, but cloudy day. f.8 and be there as they say.
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Another 'accessible'
Big Horn Sheep herd provides the opportunity for a portrait near
Banff.
With all wildlife, and even people, focus on the eye. |
| Taken
from the exact same spot as the Loons, this image is all about the
receding tonal range, aided by the drama in the clouds. Taken with
a 400mm lens. |
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Canadian
Rockies brochure |
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