More Sunrises

It is no accident that many of my mountain scenes feature sunrises and sunsets. I like to get out early in the morning. Even without a brilliant sunrise, the light is soft and the colours look better. Morning and evening light is especially complementary to the mountains and of course if I can get a colourful sunrise or sunset, that’s a bonus.

The first picture in today’s post was taken on a spring morning at Johnson Lake, in Banff National Park,  not far from Canmore. It was a very calm morning, allowing for nice reflections in the lake. At the far end of the lake you can see a small ripple on the water and how it reflects the light a little differently. The mountains behind the lake are part of the Fairholme Range which runs along the north side of the Bow Valley in the Canmore/Banff area.

The next picture was taken in early January, just over a year ago. Also in Banff NP, this photo shows the Bow River at sunrise, looking eastward from the river’s bank near the bridge at Castle Junction.

I was accompanied on this cold morning by Rolande’s nieces, Marie-Josee and Nadine who also braved the cold to get their pictures of this beautiful sunrise. Does the mist rising off the water support my claim that it was cold?

Today’s final picture was a spur of the moment shot. It was a stroke of luck that I even noticed the opportunity to get this great sunrise picture.  I arose on a late summer morning with no plans to take any photographs that day. As I stumbled around the kitchen making coffee, I happened to glance out the window and notice this striking sky. I grabbed a camera and took the picture from our back porch.

The name I gave the photo was an easy choice. Mount Cascade is located about 20 km west of Canmore and is one of the principal landmarks of the town of Banff, located just to its left in this picture. It was a largely overcast morning but the rising sun was able to get beneath the cloud cover, shining directly on the mountain at this time. The bright sunlight is reflected onto the underside of the clouds, making Mt Cascade look almost volcanic. Fortunately, we don’t have volcanic activity in the Alberta Rockies, but I did pause momentarily when I first saw this scene!