Today I made a morning visit to a favourite location, the Vermilion Lakes near the Town of Banff. Accompanied by Bob Bear and Stewart Hamilton, I arrived there at about 6:45 am in plenty of time for the sunrise. We were facing toward the sun today, making the task a little more challenging. This first shot, featuring Mount Rundle produced this backlit image. We see the face of the mountain that’s in shadow, almost appearing as a silhouette with the bright light coming from behind it.
At this stage, the sun has not yet completely crested the mountains to the east; some light is getting through, illuminating the upper peaks of Mount Rundle and parts of Sulphur Mountain to the right.
The next picture was taken just 2 minutes earlier. I was facing about 90 degrees to the left of where I was facing for the previous shot. In this case, the sunlight is coming from a different angle and is still below the horizon. Some light is reaching the higher peak you see near the centre of the photograph, Cascade Mountain.
Today’s pictures were taken from a location closer to the lakes than we usually go. That put us amidst the marsh grasses which do a good job of catching the morning light and provide an interesting foreground. It was a little soggy in there, but worth visiting to get these pictures.
Once the sun had risen, I turned my attention to some close-up shots of the interesting grasses, stumps and shrubs in the area. I’ve included three pictures that are a little abstract in nature, but you can make out quite easily what is being pictured. The first shot is a pan of a stump surrounded by long grasses. This effect was achieved by using a longer exposure (1/5 sec) allowing me time to shift the camera vertically (panning). The result is a sense of vertical movement in the scene.
The final two shots were done, using the “zoom” effect, changing focal lengths during an exposure. The result of this zoom effect is a relatively sharp central subject engulfed in a radiant burst of light streaks. Again, a longer exposure is required to allow time to manually zoom the lens with a deft twist of the wrist. The first picture features a clump of tasselled grass which appears to be expanding radially, the radiant burst of light streaks.
The final shot also features the “zoom”effect, applied to a colourful bush located on the edge of a pond. I call it “The Big Bang”. I think this must be how the universe looked when it was created, expanding rapidly outward. It happened 13.75 billion years ago, so I wasn’t there and can’t be sure it looked exactly like this. But you get the idea!
Enough for today!
Terrific photoghraphs, Peter. You took best advantage of the sub-optimal light by focusing on some of the closeups, creatively done.
Peter – At Bob’s suggestion I would like to follow your blog. I very much enjoyed your photographs. Starting out on my journey to learn more about photography, I very much appreciate your work. Take care.