Summer Afternoon
Last week, I went out for a little photography in Kananaskis Country, about 45 minutes from home. I visited two areas: Wedge Pond and the Upper Kananaskis Lake. I experienced a variety of weather conditions, ranging from overcast skies to light clouds and sunshine. The good news was that there was no rain and the temperature was mild.
As you can from my first photograph, the sky was overcast at the Wedge Pond. This image features the brilliant green leaves of the aspen trees, sporting their early summer finery. The peak in the background is named the Wedge, presumably a reference to its shape.
Looking westward, I captured this view of Mount Kidd, on the opposite side of Highway 40. Given the lighting at that time, the colours were very muted and I concluded that the photograph would look better in black and white. I particularly like the more dramatic look of the clouds that I was able to better draw out with the conversion to monochrome.
This next photograph was taken at Upper Kananaskis Lake, about 30 minutes further south. I chose to refresh my skills at taking along exposure images, in this case, 7 minutes and 15 seconds. The effect of keeping the aperture open for this long is to blur motion. Ripples on the water are smoothed and motion of the clouds is blurred. With little wind on this day, the effects are not very pronounced; the clouds are softened and the water is a little smoothed. I would have needed to lengthen the exposure considerably to have a strong effect on the photograph.
To take a photograph of this type in broad daylight, requires slowing the camera’s ability to capture light. I reduced the ISO setting (camera sensor’s sensitivity to light) very low, to 50. I reduced the aperture setting to the smallest (f/22) and mounted a very dark neutral density filter on the lens. This produced a good overall exposure and I’m satisfied (not overjoyed) with the blurring effects.
This scene captures what appears to be a small island, but is actually a small peninsula extending out from Mount Indefatigable. Behind it are some people enjoying a warm, summer day on the water.
This photograph captures a steep cliff face on the north flank of Mount Lyautey, with Mount Putnik in the background.
I always seek opportunities to include natural composition elements in my photos,. One such element is a triangle, seen here as a forested slope in the foreground of the picture. Its greater colour saturation and its stronger detail add depth to the photograph. The mountainside and the forested slope, comprising the background are clearly much further back.
Kananaskis Country is a multi-use area west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. The area is named for the Kananaskis River, which was named by John Palliser in 1858 after a Cree acquaintance. The name comes from the Cree “Kin-e-a-kis” – the name of a warrior who survived an axe blow to the head. It covers an area of 4,211 km2 and contains a number of provincial parks.