I've been planning a trip to shoot sunset at Mt Rundle with Cecil for some time, but events always seem to be conspiring against us. After a few false starts we got away today and spent some time in and around Kananaskis before heading out to Banff National Park to catch sunset. As it turns out the sunset wasn't a stunner but with the addition of a moonrise it was enough to make a nice image or two.
We began the day with a visit to 'the widowmaker' on the kananaskis river before finding a small herd of rocky mountain sheep by the roadside as we headed south on highway 40. After our ovine encounter we stopped off close to kananaskis village and made a few images on the riverside before heading to Cascade Pond for a final shoot before going to Vermillion Lakes for sunset. All in all it was a nice afternoon in the mountains and a good reminder that there is very little time in a winter day. The main image is the sunset and moonrise over Mt Rundle shot with a 400mm lens to exaggerate the moon in the frame. The small gallery below has captions showing the location of the images.
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The woodpeckers are back now the cold weather is closinging in and it was nice to see this Hairy Woodpecker on the stump this morning. He does look a lot like a male Downy Woodpecker but this one has a much longer beak (and a taste for seed filled fat it seems).
I had planned to hike 'Forgetmenot Ridge' in the Elbow Valley today but on arrival I found the area closed for construction work. As there was little time to be too selective I opted to drive the Powderface Trail for 15 km north to hike Canyon Creek and see where it took me.
It was a beautiful cold crisp day with temperatures reading 5C at ground level and significantly less at higher altitude. A strong wind added to the chill but I opted to hike a small ridge beside the canyon that I've done before and enjoyed. It's been a long time since I had any significant workout in the hills so the small ridge was perfect for a nice steady plod to a lovely narrow summit with stunning views of the foothills and surrounding forests. I've added captions to the small gallery below from today, and for anyone interested in making this hike you can see a detailed description of an earlier trip along this ridge by clicking here. We made the usual circuit beside the Bow River today in glorious sunshine, temperatures were a cool 5C and the air was so clear it made my images twice as sharp. The low winter sun makes for wonderful blue skies and soft light even at it's peak. It is getting harder to find topics to shoot along the way but I can't resist making a record so we can revisit it years from now and feel the ground under our feet.
We managed to get another aurora through the clouds tonight so I thought I would make a short video of it using about 30 frames repeated to provide a 3 second stop motion video. Sarah and I both stood out on the lawn for about 20 minutes to share this lovely event then, as the aurora melted away, I stayed out for a little longer shooting the milky way. It was really nice to share an aurora with Sarah as she is (more often than not) in bed sleeping when it begins. Tonight she had just gone to bed so I had time to tell her it was happening and see if she wanted to get up, I'm glad she did as it's always much better sharing this wonderful phenomena 'live' than recounting the event the next day. Just a few shots from the usual riverwalk trail today and a cloudy sunset to serve as the main image. There are also a couple of shots of Sarahs 'pet' squirrel tackling the peanut circle I made using a wire coat hanger, he seems to like it.
The colour has really dropped out of all of the foliage now and little remains to brighten the shots. Temperatures are dropping to freezing most nights and rising to 10 or 15C during the day as we head toward winter. The aurora returned with a vengeance last night fighting it's way through the low hazy cloud that refused to budge. Down in the bow river valley the mist was rising as air temperatures dipped to generate a hard frost across the landscape.
I stood outside in jogging pants, T-shirt and flip flops checking my settings and trying to capture the incredible light spires that reached toward the stars. At 1am I thought "I really should go get a coat and some boots on", but it's almost impossible to leave such a sight as the sprite like bursts dance across the horizon, they are fleeting and you just don't want to miss any. Ultimately the cold won out and I ran in and grabbed my jacket and winter boots before returning to the show. By 2am the cloud was ruining things altogether and I gave up and went to bed to put my cold feet on Sarah and laugh about it. One of the best things about a Canadian winter is the more frequent aurora sightings due to longer and darker nights and no matter how many times it occurs I'll be out there watching again. My first trip to the mountains since returning from Chicago was a 'sunrise workshop' in Kananaskis. I was hoping to show Cecil the beauty of the morning sun bouncing off Mt Kidd and reflecting in the calm water of The Wedge Pond below. Everything looked perfect as the sky began to change from blue to red and the summit of Mt Kidd was highlighted in a deep crimson. There was a bonus of a few clouds catching the light too but then, almost as fast as it began, it died away without reaching it's potential. It's a shame, but if we got the perfect shot every time we went out we would soon run out of places to go.
We satisfied ourselves by making the best of what we had and shooting some of the detail in the remnants of autumn colours along the waterside. I really enjoyed it and will be trying again when conditions predict a better outcome. We stopped at 'Humptys' diner on the way home and Cecil bought breakfast as we quickly passed an hour discussing set up, graduated ND filters and all things photography. Regular readers will know that we have recently got back from a great road trip to Chicago Illinois. As usual I've been pouring through our memories and sorting them into a logical order for posting, that's now done and you can see the full Chicago trip by clicking here and as always, there will be a permanent link to it from our Canada page. The Chicago page has 200 images and accompanying text so you might want to grab a cuppa before you start.
The image below is of the Chicago skyline from the Willis Tower to Navy Pier, the big blue glow on the left is the aquarium, and the narrow sliver of light on the far right is the Big Wheel on Navy Pier (about 2 miles between the two) it's a fantastic colourful skyline and really great to shoot at night from the waterside at the planetarium. |
AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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