Frosty Morning in Canmore

You might ask why I would go out to take pictures on a day like today. It was cold! When  I left the house at 9:00 am, it had warmed to about -26 deg C (-15 deg for those more familiar with the Fahrenheit scale), the warmest it had been for several days. Accompanied by Greg Bourque, friend and photographer I ventured down to the Bow River, where we found some great photographic opportunities. When the weather gets this cold, mist off the river freezes on the trees and shrubs along the river bank coating them with hoar frost. In my first photo for today, you can see the mist rising off the surface of the water and those shrubs and trees where it gets deposited as frost. Hoar frost forms when objects like trees and shrubs are cooled to a temperature below that of the moisture in the air. When the moisture comes in contact with the colder surfaces, it transforms to white ice crystals. The name hoar comes from an Old English adjective for showing signs of old age. Hoar frost refers to frost which makes trees and bushes look like white hair.

We walked along a path bordering the river, where I got this next picture showing the heavy coating of hoar frost on the trees, shrubs and grass on both sides.

It wasn’t long before our fingers got uncomfortably cold. It’s not really possible to operate a camera with bulky, warm mitts and cotton gloves just aren’t good enough when it gets this cold.  We took a breakfast break before going back out to visit our second venue of the morning. It had warmed a little so we were able to spend more time along Policeman’s Creek, where the scenery was quite striking. The rising sun was breaking through the trees along the creek, creating a mix of highlights and shadows that was very pleasing. Following is a series of pictures from Policeman’s Creek that show the exceptional lighting we enjoyed and of course some great examples of hoar frost.

We wrapped up our shooting in Canmore and repaired to the warmth of Greg’s vehicle for the drive out to Banff National Park. Our final destination for today was Johnston Canyon where we were looking to get some shots of the canyon and a frozen waterfall. I’ll share those photos in my next post.

So, you ask why I would go out to take pictures on a day like today? It’s worth a few cold fingers to see and photograph the beauty of a cold, winter day. Incomparable.