Category Archives: Blogroll

Snowshoeing at Lake Louise

Lake Louise

SnowshoeingGrabbed a few shots of Lake Louise this morning with some fog coming off of the ice. There was a patch of open water at the lake’s outlet that provided another nice opportunity for a reflection. The fog came up almost instantaneously and only remained for 15 minutes or so but it was beautiful while it lasted.

Afterward it was time to do some snowshoeing and grab a few shots of local outdoorsman Paul Sylvestre. I particularly liked this shot that I grabbed blind from a low angle as he walked past. “Kinneared”, if you will. I held the camera right down to the snow and panned with him as he went by, moving into his shadow as he passed to get him backlit. I ended up with several variations that I really like and I appreciate Paul’s choice of clothing for the day. It really popped against the snow and sky.

Vermillion Lakes, Banff

Vermillion Lakes, Banff

Most of yesterday the weather was not kind to this photographer but perseverance paid off and just before sunset the clouds finally started to break up and the sun peeked through for a great evening shoot at Vermillion Lakes. I don’t use my Nikkor 10.5 fisheye all that much but I like the effect here. It looks like you’re on top of the world. I have to say, though… looking at that foreground ice now… I’m wondering how it supported my weight.

Huh.

Mount Rundle, BanffThe spot was perfect as it allowed for several shooting opportunities. Nearby hot springs had kept this body of water open and the stillness made for perfect reflections of the nearby mountains — including Mount Rundle shown at the right. Ice around the edge of the lake provided a good surface to shoot from as well as some nice leading lines and foreground elements. in other areas patches of golden reeds broke the surface of the water giving some nice warm color and a very different look than shots that were dominated by the ice. In the end I was able to grab lots of different images that don’t all look like they were shot in the same place or on the same evening. A very versatile location. What a great way to end a day.

A quick word of thanks to Bob for stopping by and leaving a comment yesterday. It’s always great to hear from you. Hope to see you again one day soon.

Orion over Lake Johnson, Banff

Orion over Johnson Lake, Banff

I arrived in Banff in Alberta, Canada yesterday afternoon to beautiful, clear skies and temps in the 30s (F). Much better than the below-freezing temps and ice storms I left back home.

I took this shot of the constellation of Orion on a moonlit hike on frozen Lake Johnson last evening. I haven’t done a lot of night photography and was surprised by how much difficulty I had focussing (time exposures can mislead — it was much darker out than it appears in the photo). I had to switch to manual focus because it was too dark for the autofocus to lock. Knocking the focus all the way to infinity didn’t result in sharp images, however. I needed to “pull back from the edge” a bit and stop down to use the depth of field to widen my in-focus area. It still seemed hit or miss at times (cold and increasingly numb fingers — and brain — might have also been contributing) but I managed to get a few reasonably sharp images.

Another photographer I was with, Michael DeFreitas, suggested using a fluorescent white balance — something he had learn on shoots in the Antarctic. I have to admit, it did give fairly clean whites and nice rich blues in such dim light. Thanks, Michael. I look forward to getting these back to the big screen in the office to see what detail and color I can pull out of them.