Banff NP Photo Day

Earlier this week, Bob Bear and I visited nearby Banff National Park, in search of some winter photographs. We visited four locations in the park, beginning with a stop at an old favourite location, Castle Junction.

This first photograph, was taken soon after sunrise from the shoreline of the Bow River. It features Castle Mountain, coloured by the morning sunlight. It was cold, a temperature of about -20 deg C (-4 deg F). Mist rising from the water has crystallized on the trees, creating that frosty look.

Moving downstream, I took this next picture just beyond the Castle Junction bridge. I was fortunate on this occasion to capture some colourful reflections in the water along the shoreline.

Our second stop was Morant’s Curve, near Lake Louise. Our timing was good, and I was able to capture this scene of a freight train, rounding the curve. The location is a favourite with trainspotters as well as photographers. The latter are attracted more by the background of beautiful mountains surrounding Lake Louise.

The next few photographs were taken at Lake Louise, from in front of the Chateau Lake Louise resort. To the delight of skaters, the lake is frozen and meticulously maintained by the hotel. Imagine skating amid these surroundings on natural ice.

I couldn’t resist some pictures near the outlet of the lake nearby. Despite the cold temperature, water continues to flow from beneath the lake’s surface downhill to where it joins the Bow River. This next picture is interesting. It’s an opening in the ice just before the moving water is channelled into the outlet creek. Mist rising from the water crystallizes on the surface of the surrounding ice, creating this wintry pattern.

Here’s a view of the creek near the beginning of its descent to the Bow River. My attention was drawn to the pristine snow bordering the water.

Our last stop was at Hillsdale Meadow, located on the Bow Valley Parkway, our route home. This scene features Mount Ishbel, part of the Sawbuck Range, bordering this side of the Bow River. There was very little colour in this scene, so I elected to go all the way and convert it to a black and white. I like it much better than the colour (?) version.

This patch of snow, notably the areas of light and shadow, the texture of the fresh snow and the frost accumulations on the protruding grass caught my attention. So here it is. I chose not to convert it to black and white, despite the absence of colour. Rather, I colour graded it with a light shading of blue on the shadows and yellow on the light tones.

It was a great day and I was once again reminded why I like to be here in winter. (Some of the time, not all.)