Winter in Banff

It got a little warmer yesterday, so I went out to take a few pictures. It is still very wintery here and the fresh snow is very beautiful. Hard to resist! I wanted to get some winter pictures of the Banff Springs Hotel, the castle in the mountains. I started at a lookout on the Tunnel Mountain Road on the opposite side of the Bow River from the hotel. Here’s my best effort from that location.

I next went over to the hotel to try some shots at the hotel’s front door. Because of the trees in front , I needed to get in very close to see the hotel. The hotel can only be described as immense, so I used a wide angle in an effort to get all, or most of it in the scene. Here’s a shot looking up the drive from the front door, my favourite from this set of shots.

When I finished at the Banff Springs, I went out to Lake Minnewanka, not to see a frozen lake but to look for wildlife along the road. No wildlife on this day, so I took a couple of shots of mountains that I hadn’t photographed before. I had a telephoto lens on the camera and chose not to change it for these next two shots.  I don’t often use a telephoto lens for landscapes, but it can produce some interesting results. Judge for yourself.

I took this picture across Lake Minnewanka from a distance of about 7 km. With a focal length of 100 mm, I was zoomed in pretty tightly. I lose the sense of the surroundings but I gain great detail. I really like that I can clearly see the snow blowing off the peak to the far left.

The last picture is one I have wanted to try for some time. It’s Mt Inglismaldie and it has a very interesting shape. It’s easily visible from the Trans Canada Highway, but I was able to take this shot from much closer.

It’s a little unfortunate that the peak was obscured with cloud at the time I took the photo. On my way home, back on the TCH, I noticed that the clouds had cleared. Timing is everything!