Excursion on a Misty Morning

Earlier this week, I set out on an early morning photo excursion with friends Bob Bear and Stewart Hamilton. It began very promisingly with strong indications that the clouds and mist would soon dissipate and we would be treated to a glorious sunrise. Just like the forecast said! Not exactly, as it turns out but it was still a very worthwhile outing. We drove out to a favourite area, Highway 1A in Banff NP where there are numerous great locations to photograph. Our first stop was at the Muleshoe Picnic Area. We walked down to the Bow River to get some shots from the river bank. Still very misty, no mountains visible and no colourful sunrise but nonetheless a good location and we managed to get some good pictures. This first picture is a panoramic scene, composed from 5 images stitched together. It shows the river at this location with the shadowy outline of the Massive Range in the background and the sky struggling to break through the clouds.

Turning 180 degrees, I took this next picture of Muleshoe Lake, an oxbow lake originally part of the Bow River. Over time the meandering river left deposits that cut off this segment of the river from the main flow of the Bow. Today, it stands alone as a small lake.

I really like the soft look to this scene, especially the mist among the trees on the mountainside. Still no sunlight, but it was trying!

One of the day’s highlights was a small area among the tall pines along our walk back to the car. The light was soft and uniform and the combination of the trees and the ground cover under them created a very good photographic opportunity. We took quite a few pictures here, trying a variety of approaches, some which worked, other that didn’t quite make it. The scene I’m including today is quite conventional and simply shows what a nice, quiet spot it was.

I chose to do a high dynamic range (HDR) picture in this case because it works really well in bringing out the detail and texture in a scene like this. I selectively sharpened the tree bark and softened the ground cover to further emphasize the difference in texture between them.

We made a short stop on the drive home to take some pictures at the Sawback Burn, the site of a prescribed burn back in 1993. A prescribed burn is a controlled forest fire, intended to thin out the brush, reducing the fuel available to an uncontrolled wildfire. The area has a stark beauty to it which is particularly appealing on a misty day. That’s why we stopped. Here is my favoured shot from among those I took.

A fine day, very enjoyable company and photography. Of course, the sun did emerge later in the morning as we got home. Interestingly, it revealed the return of snow to the mountaintops, something that has been noticeably absent in the past two months. The good news is that it will appear in future photographs, which I like. The less good news is that it does signal the impending end of the summer.