Canmore Creek

Every month our camera club assigns a topic for a series of photographs to be shared at our monthly meeting. One recent topic was Canmore Creek. This stream runs through the town, not far from where we live. It originates at the town reservoir, just below Ha Ling Peak then flows down through a few neighbourhoods before entering the Bow River. There are a number of scenic sights along the way, as well as some wildlife. Following are a few of my efforts.

This first shot was taken at the bottom end, near where Canmore Creek flows into the Bow River. That’s Grotto Mountain in the background on the opposite side of the valley.

This next photo was taken further upstream, a small waterfall which I believe is called Hidden Falls. That would fit since it runs in the bottom of a ravine, totally obscured from view by surrounding forest. When photographing a waterfall of any kind, the first consideration for the photographer is “what shutter speed should I use?” A very fast opening and closing of the shutter (<1/500 second) will stop the water’s motion and can “freeze” flying water droplets in mid-air.  Very slow shutter speeds (>1/10 second) will produce a “streaming” effect such as you see in this photo. In this case the shutter was open for 1/8 second, so that individual water droplets in motion are recorded as streaks. All those streaks create the sense of motion you see here.

This situation was interesting because the water is travelling at different speeds in different areas of the scene. Water at the foot of the small drop-off is moving fastest so it travels less distance during the time the shutter is open. This droplets are closer to being “frozen” and this area shows virtually no streaming. Just above at the top of the drop-off, the water is accelerating so there is a pronounced reduction in the streaming effect as it transitions to faster, more turbulent flow. I took several shots of this scene seeking a balance between slow and fast, laminar and turbulent and “streamed”and “frozen”.

This scene was taken viewing along the creek in an easterly direction. It shows the creek meandering alongside a residential area with the “Little Sister” mountain peak in the background. I used a telephoto lens for this picture, with a focal length of 100 mm. This creates “compression” of the scene, creating the perception that the mountain and the house in the foreground are much closer together than they really are. The actual distance is 6.7 km (4.2 miles). It reinforces the sense that we truly do live as one with the surrounding mountains.

This is a bridge I cross almost daily on my walks into the downtown area of Canmore. It’s a very serene image with a gentle rain falling on the calm water and the resident ducks paddling along without a care in the world.

Here’s some more of that wildlife. A small flock of mallards travelling in formation.