Hey Folks,
I promised I’d stop with the dog-fest today, so indeed, being a man of my word, I did exactly that. Here’s a photo I shot last September on the now infamous trip thru the Canadian Rockies with my parents. This is Peyto Lake, one of the icons of the Canadian Rockies and Banff National Park. Little trivia again. Anyone care to explain the rich color of the lake? I’ll give ya a hint. It’s cold. 🙂
Cheers
Hey Folks,
Happy New Year!
This photo is from Moose Meadows, in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. I took this in fall 2007, on the trip through the Canadian and North American Rockies with my mum and dad.
All the best for 2008.
Cheers
Hey Folks,
A few more posts before the electricity goes and I scrounge around in the eternal darkness of the Alaskan winter. This one is a bighorn ram that I photographed on my first trip to Jasper National Park a few years back. I recently rescanned it, and am spending some downtime now getting caught up on editing and processing images. It’s funny looking at scans of slides these days, after shooting digital for just a few years. Pretty amazing the difference – though I think that’s a function of scanning more than film versus digital quality.
Well, it’s insanely past my bedtime, and I’ve had a big day, so this will be short and I’ll head to my room. You all have a good one and enjoy it while you got it – whatever it is.
Oh wow – just as I’m ready to hit “publish”, one of the dogs upstairs goes insanely off her head. At this time of night that means one thing: I looked outside and there’s 2 moose in the front yard. How cool is that? A cow moose and her calf under the street lights wandering through the front yard. Awesome!
Cheers
Carl
Hey Folks
Well, this shall be my last post from the Lower 48 states, for a while at least. Tomorrow on the eve I fly to Alaska, and settle down for some winter fun. It’s been a short trip, and tons of fun with my parents – hopefully it won’t take 3 more years for me to get the chance to see them again.
I’m looking forward to getting back to Alaska, and if the weather is at all reasonable, trying to get some more images from Wrangell St. Elias. I also have a boatload of files to process, website updates to do, emails to return, and more computer stuff as well – which I’m not so eager to undertake, but, it seems, I have to. I have a ton of writing I want to, and also have had a few books recommended to me that I am keen to read. On top of that the moose rut is just starting to get underway, and that will be fun to photograph, so it seems I’ll be kept busy. I guess that’s good.
For now, I’ll just post this picture of my mum and her new friend from Banff National Park, waving us all goodbye.
Cheers
Hey Folks
I didn’t get to post anything yesterday, because we didn’t get anywhere that had wi-fi. So today I’ll make up for that by uploading 2 posts, the first one I had intended to upload yesterday but didn’t get a chance. This one is fresh out of the box.
Now we’re in the Canmore area, just south of Banff. Today I took my parents up to Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and also drove the Minnewanka Loop, a sweet drive. The weather wasn’t the best, but could’ve been worse. Moraine Lake is a treat in any weather, so that was fun. Lake Louise is, in my opinion, really hard to enjoy unless you have the time to walk up the trail and leave the pandemonium of the Lodge and crowds behind. Even my poor old dad noted the irony Continue reading
Hey Folks
Well, here I am in Banff. I’m still riding around the countryside with my parents, who give new meaning to the word “doddering”. We’ve visited nearly every public toilet in western Canada, which has been a real treat. So far, I haven’t had to unleash any violence, but I may resort to that medium of regulation sometime in the near future. My patience has been the mainstay of what stability we’ve managed to clutch. Dad doesn’t listen, and mum mumbles; a potent combination.
Actually, they’re doing OK, and I’m really enjoying showing them some of my favorite parts of the world. Continue reading
Hey Folks
Here’s the latest from the road! I shot this saturday evening, just before dark. I had long been looking to forward to bringing my parents thru the Canadian Rockies one fall, Jasper National Park in particular. I knew they’d love watching the elk in rut, hearing the bugles and feeling the energy of the place. We had an awesome day, and visited Maligne Lake where we hiked out for a mile or so along the shore, and enjoyed some quiet of the forest and nearby mountains, before walking back and having lunch down the road by Medicine Lake. A quick run into town for a milk shake, some email and shopping (my mother is a certified shopaholic) and we were back out in the park looking for elk. just before dark we found this bull and his harem. I grabbed my camera and tried to get some slow shutter speed images, blurring the motion of the elk as they moved about. I was really hoping I’d got this series right when it happened, as the bull looked awesome through the viewfinder. After dinner this evening, I browsed through the images from today and was glad to see this was pretty close to what I was hoping for. A nice bull elk image, conveying the frenetic energy of the rut, and the intensity of the great animals.
Photographing elk is an addiction, I’m the first to admit. The rut is so different to other ungulates because of the setting (majestic mountains ranges such as the Rockies), the crisp fall air, fall colors, and the bugling. That bugling is such an amazing sound. my mum asked my why the elk bulls bugle, and I wasn’t sure. Some say it’s an expression of dominance, a challenge to other bulls, or a call to females. It could well be an expression of the sheer exuberance of being alive and a part of this incredible experience. I think if I could bugle like that as the mist settles down on the pine forest in the Canadian Rockies, I probably would too!
Cheers
Carl
Hey Folks,
Well, here’s a quick follow up. Ron inspired this post with his bear photos from his trip into the Yukon and BC. I shot these bears along the Alcan highway on my way north this summer. I sat in the vehicle, and shot out the window, so I allowed myself to get pretty close. The bears were very tolerant if I moved slowly, didn’t make a lot of noise and was generally respectful towards them. Other travellers stopped, and generally did the same, so we all had a nice time. However, some folks just amaze me.
This one guy drives by, screeches to a halt, backs up, looks at the bears for a while, opens his vehicle door, steps out, walks towards the bears (there were 3, these 2 and another cub), and starts taking pictures. I’m thinking “now this is crazy!” .. but I didn’t say anything .. the bears pretty much ignored him, at first. Then they started showing a little more interest, and I leaned out my window and said “hey man, if I were you, I’d hop back in the car. Those bears can move pretty fast, and it’s not worth messing around near them.”
He goes: “Ya think so?”
I said “yeah, you might wanna get back in your truck”.
He says “OK. I wonder momma bear is.”
I shook my head, once, twice, and then said “yeah, I have no idea. You better get back in your truck, sir”.
Fortunately, he did, and all was well. I do love a happy ending.
Cheers
Carl
PS – Here’s another photo of one of the cubs:
Hey Folks
Wow! Here I go and sy ‘Ill try to update this journal more often, and then I go and don’t post to it in 2 weeks. That’s not too hip. Sorry about that.
I’m looking forward to heading back over to Wrangell St. Elias National Park in a couple of days. Hopefully the weather forecast will in incorrect (which has been to happen) and the sun will shine. We’ll see.
I don’t really have any specific to write about. This photo was taken one evening in the Canadian Rockies, in Jasper National Park. I believe this mountain is part of the Colin Range, but I can’t be sure. I didn’t take notes, like I should have, and now I can’t recall. It’s an impressive slab of granite though .. way cool. The evening sun lights it up nicely in the summertime, and makes it even more impressive.
I’ll post a couple of grizzly bear photos in a few, just so I’m not outdone by Ron Niebrugge.
🙂
Cheers
Carl
hey Folks
Well, I made it. Many, many miles of sitting behind my steering wheel finally got me up to Alaska. And whata gorgeous day it is to arrive. This morning, as I made my way through the final couple hundred miles of the Yukon Territory, I saw moose, tundra swans, grizzly bears and a coyote. I managed to take a few images of the coyote, and also the bears as they grazed on the wildflowers and grasses. I saw a number of black bears in western and northern BC, but no grizzlies. Grizzlies are SO cool, it’s always a treat to see them, Continue reading