New Fine Art Pictures of Canmore, Banff and Jasper National Parks
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Canadian Rockies Landscape Photography
I had not previously been to the Canadian Rockies in the Fall, but I got the chance and the results were great. This was another trip that I took with my partner in crime, Jess Lee, www.jessleephotos.com.
We started in Canmore, a little east of Banff in order to check out the mountain scenes south of there. One of the first places we wanted to photograph was Wedge Pond. The Aspen trees were quite healthy and the reflections were spot on.
The other location near Canmore are the mountains called the Three Sisters. The light that afternoon was a little challenging, but in the end, I was extremely happy with the results.
From there, we headed up to the Saskatchewan Crossing for a couple of days. We wanted to see what was happening at Abraham Lake as to Fall color. Although the Fall color wasn’t doing what we had hoped for, we did manage a nice sunrise on the lake.
I had been by Mistaya Canyon on a previous trip, but it was in the afternoon and that is just not the right time to photograph there. This time we were there for sunrise and the lighting conditions were perfect. It’s one of those places that you enjoy just being there and soaking it in.
From Saskatchewan Crossing we headed up to Jasper for a few days. I had previously heard that fall colors up there could be good and it turned out to be true. One of the first scenes we came across was at Patricia Lake. The lake was a perfect mirror of the fall color and Pyramid mountain. We stopped and shot a ton of photos and this was the best of the bunch.
We wanted to capture sunrise at Maligne Lake if the water was calm enough to capture the reflection of the mountains. It was certainly cold out there on this Fall morning, but that resulted in fog that was a nice accent above the lake and in front of the mountains.
Another must when in Jasper is to photograph Cavell Lake at sunrise with the reflection of Mount Edith Cavell in the lake. Again, the wind must be calm and it was. We headed down to the lake before dawn, with bear spray in hand as needed in many locations there. A lot of photos were taken, but this vertical composition turned out to be my favorite of the morning.
While in Jasper, we just had to take the boat that goes out to Spirit Island. This is one of the most iconic views in the Canadian Rockies, especially in Jasper National Park. It takes about an hour to get there and I was excited the whole way as their virtually no wind so I knew the reflections would be good. It turned out we took the last boat of the season before they closed for the winter. We got a little lucky, but I’ll take it.
We left Jasper and headed back south to stay at the Lake Louise area. We had a few more locations left on our to-do list. Hector Lake is a small lake at the south end of the Icefields Parkway. We scouted it out the day before and captured an amazing reflection of the mountains in the lake the next morning at sunrise. This had been on my list on previous trips, but I never had these perfect conditions.
We were hoping for some good conditions at Emerald Lake. I had great success there this past winter, but it just wasn’t to be on this Fall trip. Near Emerald Lake is Natural Bridge, with a raging river that I was able to capture one morning just as the sun was coming up through the trees. I knew that a panoramic image would be the answer for this scene and I took the necessary series of images to create it.
A photography expedition to the Canadian Rockies wouldn’t be complete without capturing a photo from Vermillion Lakes of Mount Rundle. This is just outside Banff and a very popular spot for good reason.
A photographic expedition to the Banff area wouldn't be complete without making an effort to photograph Two Jack Lake. The view is the opposite side of Mount Rundle from what you see at Vermilion Lakes. The water was calm and the reflection that morning was perfect.
One last place on our list was Bow Lake, which is a short distance up the Icefields Parkway. Fall brings colors to the foliage and we had some amazing skies over the two days we worked this area. I think I wound up liking the shot looking down the footbridge the most. There was something about the little clouds in the sky that reminded me of little alien spaceships. Maybe too much caffeine.
BOW LAKE FOOTBRIDGE
The trip was everything I had hoped it would be, which is rare.