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, 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).

Darwin’s expertise in the area, for photography, is unparalleled; he’s lives in the area, and has been shooting those mountains since before they were mountains. Well, maybe not THAT long, but long enough. I can’t tell you how helpful his original guide has been for me. I’ve been to the Canadian Rockies a number of times, and spent more than a few weeks stalking wildlife there, waiting for sunrises, rain to stop, clouds to break, etc, and I still wouldn’t take a trip there without his photography guide with me.

Darwin offers great advice on not only places to shoot, but when and how he likes to shoot them. Filters, lenses, time of day, likely wildlife sightings, etc, etc; a comprehensive guide. With the new website, he adds a lot more. I’ve already added the site to my Google Reader (you DO use a Google reader, don’t you?); a wealth of info and awesome photography is headed my way.

For anyone thinking about a trip to the Canadian Rockies, get yourself these ebooks, and check out his site. You’ll be doing yourself and your photography a huge favor.

Cheers

Carl

PS – I was gunna call the offer above my very own “Darwin Award”, but thought better of doing so.

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

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.

Cheers

Carl

Banff National Park Photos.

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.

Samuel Allen and Walter Wilcox were 2 of the first European explorers in the area, and they’re generally credited with much of the initial exploration of the Canadian Rockies – given, of course, that various Indian Nations already lived there, and had done so for centuries, and called the place home. Wilcox was especially fond of Moraine Lake and Wenkchemna Peaks, claiming of the Valley of Ten Peaks that “no scene has ever given me an equal impression of in spiring solitude and rugged grandeur.” Wilcox Pass, up near the Columbia Icefields is named after Walter Wilcox. Interestingly, all of the Peaks were almost all later renamed, only 2 of them retaining the names the Stoney Indians knew them by. One of them was later named after Samuel Allen.

Personally, I like the idea of naming places and features in a way that offers some description of their subjectivity rather than naming them after some person we admire. I’d rather refer to the Valley of 10 Peaks than Wilcox Pass, for example. One is merely an abstraction, a reduction, the other is an acknowledgement of the physicality, or nature of the place. Wenkchemna it is!

Cheers

Carl

Banff National Park Photos.

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

Carl
Banff National Park Stock Photos.

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

Carl
Banff National Park Photos.

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

Carl
Banff National Park Photos.

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. The only thing that makes it tolerable is the fact that the weather has been miserable, so I’m not missing a whole lot of photo opps by being stuck in town. Hopefulyl the weather will clear soon – the forecast says it’s will, so let’s hope for some sunny skies. Of course, I had sunny skies from the time I left Atlanta, GA, until I hit the Rockies, the day before yesterday, in Glacier National Park. The weather was so lame there I headed north the first morning, drove up through Kananaskis Country in the snow, and arrived in Banff yesterday afternoon.

I did find a cool little campsite though – Two Jack Lake campground .. there are 2 campgrounds there, and they’re nice and quiet, at least this early in the season, anyway. I found this Great Gray Owl just outside one of the campgrounds, and managed to take a few photos of him. They’re simply an awesome bird. I was super excited about finding him.

I’ll probably spend a few more days in the Canadian Rocikes, before heading further north to the Yukon and then Alaska. I can’t wait to get to Wrangell St. Elias and do some shooting there. I’m keen to get on with my project.

I better leave it here for now and get outside. Hopefully the weather will break for a nice sunset, and tomorrow morning, sunrise at Moraine Lake.

Oh, I’ll give a shout out to Darwin Wiggett and his awesome book on photographing the Canadian Rockies. A must have for any one who visits this part of the world.

Cheers

Carl
Banff National Park Photos.