Winter Scenes Along the Bow River

Earlier this week, I went for a walk along the Bow River, accompanied by my longtime friend and fellow photographer, Gregory Bourque. Later that day we ventured out in the early evening with fellow members of the Canmore Camera Club, Harv Emter and George Dlask, to photograph the Super Moon. More on that a little later in this blog.

This photograph was taken beneath the bridge crossing the Bow River at 8th Avenue in Canmore. So what’s interesting about such a picture? For me, it’s snow-covered rocks, the ice patterns and the contrasting light, beneath and beyond the bridge.

Next is a picture of the river with the later afternoon light creating a glow on its surface. With the scene backlit, it was pretty dark and colourless, so I went the rest of the way and converted the image to black and white. I added a selenium toning to give it a little more shine. I like the fresh, clean, shadowed snow on the rocks in the foreground.

The next picture was taken from the Engine Bridge, a remnant of Canmore’s coal mining past. It’s now a pedestrian bridge and a good place to take a photograph. It offers a great view of the Three Sisters peaks in the background and at this time of year there are some interesting patterns in the ice below the bridge. The river beneath the bridge is frozen over, with open water both upstream and downstream. The water flows over that ice and as you can see, it cuts its own course on its way to joining the open water downstream.

Here’s the view from the opposite side, looking northwest.

Photographers like texture in their pictures. The Engine Bridge has much texture in its trusses’ girders. The structure was was brought to Canmore in 1919 to replace a wood structure that had burnt down. Given its age (circa 1880) and its riveted construction it is likely built with wrought iron or steel. The rusting is superficial so the bridge is more than adequate to serve in its role as a pedestrian bridge. And of course, it’s very pleasing to the photographer’s eye. If you’re interesting in seeing the entire bridge, look back at what I posted in October of 2018…https://www.shotsbypeter.com/blog/?p=12139

My last scene for today is a picture I took in the early evening as the moon rose above Grotto Mountain on the opposite side of the Bow Valley. We set up atop a hill overlooking the Town of Canmore, just above the river where the Engine Bridge crosses. A super moon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee (the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit) resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth. It also takes on an orangish colour, due to refraction of its light as it passes through the earth’s atmosphere. When it’s low in the sky, its light travels further across the lower atmosphere, where it is more greatly affected by particles in the air.

That’s it for today. I hope to get some more winter shooting before we make our return to Arizona in a two short weeks.