Tag Archives: Banff National Park

How to Photograph the Canadian Rockies

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Evening light on the Canadian Rockies.
Evening light on the Canadian Rockies. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Some great news; photographer extraordinaire, and a man I am proud to call my friend, Darwin Wiggett has put together his excellent series, “How To Photograph the Canadian Rockies” again, this time with even more detail and information than its predecessor. In 2005 Darwin released, through Altitude Publishing company, this great book, as a small, portable handbook,a a guide to photographing the Canadian Rockies. I was lucky enough to grab a copy before the company went bust and the book’s publishing ended, leaving countless nature photographers frustrated, as they weren’t able to snare a copy. The book is absolutely fantastic; I unhesitatingly call it a “must have” for anyone heading toward the Canadian Rockies. Which is a bummer; a ‘must have‘ is now a ‘can no longer get’.

Until now. The great news; Darwin’s just set up a new website, How To Photograph the Canadian Rockies (no longer live), and released all the great info in his book as ebooks. This time the ebooks go into more detail, and cover the Canadian Rockies region by region. Starting with the Icefield Parkway area, the first 2 ebooks are currently available, and soon to come are ebooks on photographing Banff and Jasper National Parks, probably the crown jewels of the Canadian Rockies.

We’ll do a quick test here. I’ll invite Darwin to check this blog out and tell me where the scene in this photograph (above) is, and where I shot it from (Darwin – if you know it, don’t post the answer just yet). The first non-Darwin who can do so, I’ll buy you any one of Darwin’s ebooks (your choice which).

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Moraine Lake Hiking

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Tourist watching people canoeing on Moraine Lake, Banff, Canada.
A tourist hiker stands beside the shores of Moraine Lake and watches people canoeing on the lake The grand scenery of Moraine Lake and the Wenkchemna Peaks, or 10 Peaks at Moraine Lake make the area a popular tourist destination for hiking, canoeing, photography and adventures. Hiker, Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Click the image to see how good I look in red.

hey Folks

I was scanning through some images recently and stumbled on to this one. Here’s me in stunning mauve at Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, in Alberta Canada.

Most photographers know how much difference putting a person or 2 in the photo can make to the salability of an image. And adding some color makes a difference as well.

But the image must tell a story. For stock photography, the more generic the story might be, the more possible different uses it might have. This could be a tourist, a hiker, someone lost, a photographer, etc. It could even be someone advertising Arcteryx jackets.

But the real story of this photo, for me, is my first time to Moraine Lake. I spend a whole day just soaking up the grandeur of this place. I can think of very few places that are so simply pretty as the Canadian Rockies. They’re almost picture perfect. Many other places have a wonder all their own, and I’d never forsake the wildness of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, for example, for the Canadian Rockies. But for sheer ‘hop out of the car and be amazed’ classical mountain beauty, the Canadian Rockies have it going on.

I’d been to Jasper National Park a few times, photographing wildlife there. I’d driven through Banff in order to get to Jasper. And I’d thought to myself ‘wow, Banff is pretty’ more than once. But the first time I drive up to Moraine Lake, got out the car and walked over to the lake, it just floored me. I walked along the lake’s edge, and sat and stared at everything. At the detail or these incredible peaks above me, the silence of the montane forest, and that water. That amazing water. It just absolutely blew me away.

They day was cloudy, it was early in the summer, and few people were around; those that were had taken rental canoes out on the lake, and I had the shoreline pretty much to myself. So I just sat and soaked it in. If you ever go to Banff National Park, and I recommend that you do, at least once in your life, give yourself plenty of time up at Moraine Lake. It takes time just to see it – you can’t stand at the overlook, glance around, and see it all. give yourself a day, and embrace the place. Your life will be richer for it.

More photos of Banff National Park.

Cheers

Carl

Indian Paintbrush Photo, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

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Indian Paintbrush, wildflower in bloom, summertime, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a photo of an Indian Paintbrush, wildflower Castilleja miniata, from the Canadian Rockies, in Banff National Park. Banff National Park and the surrounding Greater Canadian Rockies ecosystem is a simply amazing place to photograph, with a myriad subjects to seek out and photograph.

Banff National Park has awesome mountain scenery, forests and montane ecosystems, sub-alpine and alpine regions, lakes and ponds, sloughs, rivers, glaciers, icefields, waterfalls, canyons, rockfaces, wildflowers, shrubs and grasses. Aspen trees, pine, larch, spruce, and so on.

Wildlife photography in the area is probably some of the best in North America, second only (maybe) to Yellowstone National Park, which is just over a day’s drive south. Elk, moose, caribou, mule deer, whitetail deer, grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, bald eagles, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, to chipmunks, magpies and jays – a long, long list of subjects.

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Tourists at Moraine Lake Photos, Banff National Park, Canada

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Tourists enjoy the view lakeside, at Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, the Canadian Rockies, Canada.

Accessible icons: Moraine and Peyto Lake

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image from Moraine Lake, a couple of tourists enjoying the view, lakeside, of Wenkchmena Peaks and Moraine Lake.

Banff National Park is a sweet place, with an incredible array of photographic opportunities and interesting subjects to shoot. I could go up to Moraine Lake a thousand times and not get bored with that view, I reckon. It does get a little sticky, inundated with bus loads of tourists as the day goes by, but early in the morning there’s usually very few people there.

One of the cool things about Banff National Park, for the nature photographer, is there are so many simply awesome scenes that are super-accessible. Just a short walk off the road and you’ve got this incredible scene. For the more adventurous traveller, there’s a ton of hikes and trails to explore and places to get into the backcountry and away from it all, which is great too, but for some really easy access, Banff National Park is the spot. Moraine Lake is just one of the places among literally dozens of scenic opportunities. I’ll try to post a few more along the way.

Glacial flour and the blue of the Rockies

Peyto Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

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. ?

Fall colors, Moose Meadows, Banff National Park, Canada.

This photo is from Moose Meadows, in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

I took this in the fall on the trip through the Canadian and North American Rockies with my mum and dad.

A farewell to the Lower 48 and my folks.

mum and her friend in banff

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

Carl

Banff Quick Photography Guide

Moraine Lake and the Ten Peaks 

To get the classic view of the Wenkchmena Peaks reflecting in the water, you have to beat the “sticky” crowds. Aim for sunrise; the light hits those granite spires first, and you’ll have a much better chance of finding a quiet spot on the Rockpile before the first tour buses roll in.

The Electric Blue of Peyto Lake 

If you’re heading to the Peyto Lake overlook, don’t feel like you have to be there at the crack of dawn. This is one of the few spots where a bit of overhead sun actually helps. The higher the sun, the more that “glacial flour”—the fine rock silt suspended in the water—glows that incredible turquoise color.

Moose Meadows and the Shoulder Seasons 

For a break from the crowds, Moose Meadows is a great spot to catch the transition into fall. It’s perfect for low-angle light and catching the local wildlife as the rut begins. Plus, it’s one of those spots that feels a bit more like “Old Alberta” and less like a tourist trap.

Moraine Lake Photo, Wenkchemna Peaks, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

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Moraine Lake photo, Wenkchemna Peaks, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

Hey Folks

Here’s another image from the Canadian Rockies – immortalized on the Canadian $20 bill. Moraine Lake is one of the classic views of the Canadian Rockies, indeed, of anywhere.

It’s a special place.

The lake is most likely mis-named – it’s probably not a moraine that formed it at all, but a rock slide. The peaks that tower above the inviting turquoise lake are called the Wenkchemna Peaks. “Wenkchemna” is the Stoney Indian word for 10. The Stoney Indians lived in the area, and guided early European settlers and explorers in the region.

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Great Gray Owl Photo, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

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Great Gray Owl, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

Hey Folks

Hola, from the road. I’m currently in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. I love this part of the world, but I don’t enjoy the crowds. I had to come in to the town of Banff today, to check some email, and do some errands. I can’t wait to finish, and get back out into the mountains. The crowds here drive me crazy. The traffic is insane, made worse by a bunch of road construction being undertaken right now.

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