All the leaves are brown…
Today’s post features photographs from a last look at autumn, taken recently near Canmore. It was a sunny fall day, following some earlier snowfalls, typical of what we can expect in November. I was accompanied by Bob Bear, a regular photo companion. We visited a number of areas, mostly in the foothills of the Rockies.
We made two stops at Gap Lake, situated in the mountains just east of Canmore. Our first stop was made as we travelled eastward out of the mountains. I was hopeful we could do some long exposure photography, capturing motion of the clouds and the lake’s surface. To our surprise, the lake was largely frozen. Ice doesn’t move and it wasn’t particularly windy, so I quickly abandoned the long exposures. The good news is that ice on the lake offers a number of other, good photographic opportunities, beginning with this view westward across the lake’s frozen surface.
This scene was photographed looking eastward, in the direction of the sun. The lighting is drastically different from that of the previous photograph, taken soon afterward. The brilliance of the sunlight causes the camera’s light meter to reduce the duration of the exposure, thereby under-exposing other areas of the scene. Backlit images are challenging. It was necessary to perform some editing adjustments to achieve the look I wanted.
We chose to move on, travelling eastward to an old favourite location, Highway 40, aka the Forestry Trunk Road. This photo was taken along that road. It features a spectacular sky, above a prairie landscape.
Further north, along this same road, we stopped near the village of Waiparous, where we photographed its namesake creek.
This is a scene that I’ve photographed before, in a different season. No matter the time of year, I find it appealing.
Returning home in the early afternoon, we elected to re-visit Gap Lake for some scenes under different light conditions.
The following black and white image is a view eastward with the afternoon sun illuminating the mountain peaks in the background.
Meandering along the shoreline above the lake I encountered a large slab of ice, floating beneath the surface of an open area of water. Its texture, exaggerated by the ripples on the water’s surface creates an image resembling an old, stone arrowhead.
Today’s final picture was taken on the way home. It features the McDougall Memorial Church, at Morley, Alberta, built by the Reverend George McDougall in 1875. McDougall, a Methodist minister, came west from Ontario at the request of the Hudson’s Bay Company to do missionary work. He spent several years near Fort Edmonton before coming further south to open a mission amongst the Stoney and Blackfoot people. The church was the centre point of the Morley Mission settlement founded by George, his wife Elizabeth and their eldest son John.
This is another backlit scene. In this case, I was able to position the church between me and the sun, making the shot much easier.
This will be my last autumn series of photographs and blog posts. I’m looking forward to desert photography and possibly some winter shooting.
Great Photos