Kootenay Landscape: Along the Vermilion River
Bobbi and I drove with the kids up to Lake Louise for a hike on Sunday. The walk around the north side of the lake was nice and the kids had a lot of fun. Not much time to photograph, too busy throwing rocks in the water with Kian and Kezia, but there was some interesting light on the mountainsides when I did stop for a minute.
On the drive back we went on a detour along Highway 93 into the Kootenay National Park. We turned around before Vermilion Crossing at the point where Floe Creek joins the Vermilion River which runs down the spine of the valley. Kootenay National Park has had several large forest fires in the past 40 years and there are huge stretches of matchstick trees. Under these ravaged trunks, evergreens have taken hold and bring color into the hillsides. In the rivers, glacial silt paints the water a lovely blue. Strong lines in the river’s canyon walls and in the burned out forest. A lot of great elements to choose from and work with.
Here are a few images from this bend in the river.
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Dramatic peaks above Banff
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Canadian Rockies Landscapes: A Kananaskis Rainbow
My wife and I took the children for a morning drive along Highway 40 through Kananaskis this morning. This rainbow followed us in from the edge of the Bow Valley Parkway into Kananaskis and along the peaks of Heart Mountain, Grant McEwan Pea and Mt. Lorette. With the clearing storm clouds still dark the rainbow really stood out against the sky.
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Canadian Rockies Landscapes: The Mountains along Maligne Lake
After riding out of the Tonquin Valley we spent the following day touring around the Jasper area. In the afternoon we drove up to Maligne Lake and hiked a couple of kilometers along the southeastern shoreline.
The mountains along the northern shore and down towards the far end of valley were on full display as we traveled along the trails edging the water.
Clouds, rain, sunlight and a bit of snow took turns hitting the peaks and running across the valleys. I love this area of the park as there is a lot of change in the type of mountains and the weather often seems to be determined to put on a show across the landscape.
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Sunrise behind Mount Peechee
Mount Peechee stands a few kilometers east of Banff. From the First Vermilion Lake, the mountain’s ridges dominate the skyline. Standing out on the ice just before 8am, I really enjoyed this sunrise over the mountain.
Mount Peechee is 9,630 feet making it the third highest of the eight mountains in the Fairholme Range that runs northwest up to Lake Minnewanka. First climbed in 1929, it is now off-limits for hiking which allows it flanks to serves as important pathways for wildlife. A fantastic subject for landscape photography.
As the early morning pink colors faded, I switched subjects and focused on Mount Rundle and the storm that was moving in from the west. I used a Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter to get a long exposure which stretched the clouds and made the most of the last bit of color from the morning.
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Banff Landscapes: Into the storm
Here I wanted to work with a dominant pattern across the water and up on the mountains. The diagonal lines of the ridges along the mountain slopes were receding into darkness but I had time to work within this composition.
With the snow that was falling and being blown around by the wind, the lines fade increasingly into the storm. One of the myriad looks of winter in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
This photograph is from the Third Vermilion Lake just outside the Banff townsite. I was out there for sunset on Saturday and things looked promising when a gap in the clouds started to open up but by the time the sun was low and there would have been some color in the sky, the storm had closed in and the grand sunset landscape was filed into the next time folder. I enjoyed watching the snow fall, an American Dipper play in the hot spring water and the winds blow across the ice and through the trees. It was a very nice evening outside.
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Banff Landscapes: Vermilion Lake to Mount Rundle
I was in Banff at Vermilion Lakes on Sunday morning. The cold was there, the snow was there, as were the clouds. The light teased me and certainly provided enough to work with. This is one from the second of the Vermilion Lakes looking at a small patch of open water, across the ice towards Mount Rundle.
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Kananaskis, First Snow
I got out on the Friday morning for an early shoot in Kananaskis and I was met by an inch of snow outside my front door. Rather excitedly, I carried on to the back country and the snow had raised up to two inches off the grass.
I went to the South end of Barrier Lake and walked along the beach looking for images that would convey an autumn snowfall. This was my favourite, taken just off the water across the lake.
It would have been great to get a bit of sunlight this morning but it was very beautiful and quiet. A really wonderful morning up in the mountains.
O’Shaughnessy Falls in Kananaskis along Highway 40 near Barrier Lake.
I’ve driven by this small set of rapids a number of times and this looked like a great morning to stop and look for some different looks to this waterfall.
A bit of a hike up along the stream into the forest, I liked this scene of a lone flower amid the dark trunks and patches of snow on the ground. It has been a strange year weather-wise and this first image in this post seemed to speak to that. Below is a couple of alternative compositions of that scene.
Christopher Martin Photography 