Aurora Prairialis
The Northern Lights have been increasing their activity into the southern Canadian latitudes lately. After what seems like close to a year of quiet night skies, it is wonderful to enjoy them again.
We found these dancing lights on the prairies south of Cochrane near the end of September. It was a calm display but hopefully a harbinger of things to come.
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Rolling the moon down a cloud
We caught the first full moon of September on the first day of the month. The clouds spun and stretched across the sky during the moonrise off of the prairie west of Calgary. The moon leaped up quickly daring the clouds to dim her bright light. It was beautiful.
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Cat Creek Waterfall
We started the September long weekend with a family hike up Cat Creek on the southern side of Kanananskis. It’s a short walk through the forest that offers beautiful views down the Foothills and more intimate scenes in the valley. It was late afternoon and we enjoyed being in no particular rush. The trail has signs about the area’s history as main trail into Kananaskis last century as well as a short-lived period as a coal mining hotbed. We arrived at the end of the main trail shortly after 5 o’clock and had the pond below the waterfall to ourselves.
Cold but not bitterly so, the youngest kids all had turns jumping in and taking short swims. Desiree and I climbed up the cliff beside the waterfall and explored further upstream for a little while. Above the cliff edges were striped with thick moss and the stream had several small drops. However the waterfall at the end of the trail was rightfully the star of the show. It is one of the prettiest that I have seen in Alberta. That comment may be influenced by the company I was with – most of my very favorite people. Nonetheless, it was a great location to take a few photos.
The walk back in the evening light was just as beautiful. We finished with most kids sleeping on the way home. A great day.
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Storm clearing over Water Valley
Photographed north of Cochrane in Water Valley in the early evening in June. The trailing edge of a storm had lost its enthusiasm with only a ragged veil of rain left to haze the Rocky Mountains slightly.
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Perseid Meteor Shower over Bragg Creek
Desirée and I went out to look for shooting stars last night for our favorite meteor shower of the year. The Perseids didn’t let us down and we saw a couple dozen on either side of midnight west of Bragg Creek.
The Milky Way stood out against the deep night and I was lucky to catch a few crossing that incredible arch.
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Neowise on a summer night
Desiree and I went out to photograph the Neowise comet on consecutive nights in late July before its nightly tour over the northern hemisphere ended. It was amazing to see the comet so bright. With longer exposures, the tail flared out behind in a way that I haven’t photographed before. That was beautiful and I’m glad we were out there and could share that together.
The comet was difficult to see with the naked eye. With the camera, and a 6 second exposure, it stood out even against the sparkling sky.
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From the archives: Port Angeles sunrise
I have to admit to missing the ocean badly right now. The pandemic has interrupted a couple of trips to the coast but a stroll through my image library helped. I landed on some images from a morning two Aprils ago where I was on the narrow strip of land where the Ediz Hook Reservation for Native Birds borders against a US Coast Guard Air Station.
The sun rose just after 6 am. I was on the shore by 5 and enjoyed watching twilight brighten the night sky. The hour seemed to glide quickly past – as is often the case when I’m out photographing landscapes. Not before I had managed a few different scenes of the blue hour on this interesting spot along the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.
When the sun was up, I did a little beach combing. Walking through the wash of the tide, I found a few interesting miniature scenes. This one was a favorite of mine.
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The start of summer lightning
We had a massive thunderstorm roll directly over our home last weekend. A warm night met with heavy clouds with rain, wind and lightning all in large measures. We have some incredible storms in the summer – this one felt like the first of those. Here the forest in my backyard is silhouetted by lighting arcing across the clouds in the storm.
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Archive images: Sol Duc Rainforest
Last April, I was on Washington’s coast photographing in the Olympic Peninsula west of Seattle. The Sol Duc Rainforest was one of the incredible forests that I spent time photographing in. I found the old growth with the density of wilderness to be stunning. It’s a beautiful location to get lost for days. I had a few hours and look forward, down the road, to get back for more.
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Archive images: Summer snowstorm – Kootenay National Park
Last June I traveled to Radium with my children. On our travels there we passed through the Kootenay National Park during an early summer snow storm. We stopped along the Kootenay River to photograph the icy blue water and bright green of the young forest being met by the white blizzard.
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Evening towards Kananaskis
A night on the western edge of Bragg Creek in January. The clouds had incredible texture all afternoon and when the last light caught them it threw incredible pinks and purples across them. A cotton candy sky glowing to see the day off. Same scene above and below – two versions.
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Aurora Borealis in the Yukon
Last summer we went to Whitehorse to visit my girlfriend’s family. One of the nights, we noticed a few lines of color waving in the sky above our patio. We hopped in the car and drove out of town. Whitehorse is a pretty small city but the urban lights were too bright for the display to stand out. We followed a gravel road up a forested hill to a stony field that opened up.
The moon had not quite set when we set up so the first half an hour had the bright moonlight, illuminated clouds and muted northern lights blending across the night sky’s canvas.
The moon set and the aurora display intensified as well so that the greens, blues and traces of purple rippling above were mesmerizing. We stayed there for a couple of hours. That was my first time to the Yukon and it was wonderful to be able to enjoy the Northern Lights that far north. I hope for the same kind of luck when we visit there next.
