Foothills Scenes

I took the leisurely route home from Calgary a few days ago, along Highway 1A through Cochrane and on to Canmore. Most of the route is through the foothills of the Rockies and offers some very good photographic opportunities. I managed to get some good pictures including the three I have included today. I begin with my first picture, a large coniferous tree along the side of the road. Backlit by the sun, it’s in silhouette except for the shaded foreground. I like the rugged, weathered appearance of this old tree atop a small hillock.

The next photo features a fence line along the road, backgrounded by the Rocky Mountains which loom over the landscape. The prominence of the mountains is enhanced by compression (telephoto distortion) that arises from using a telephoto lens for this shot (130 mm focal length). Compression, long-lens, or telephoto distortion can be seen in images shot from a distance using a long focus lens. Distant objects look approximately the same size as closer ones. Closer objects are abnormally small and more distant objects are abnormally large, hence the viewer cannot discern relative distances between the objects – distances are compressed. 

I quite like this last scene which features a serpentine set of tracks ascending a hill and a winding fence line alongside it. It’s interesting how the grass is greener on the right side of the fence, ergo the title chosen for the photograph.