Banff – F’n Beautiful

I had the good fortune to visit beautiful Banff, Alberta a few weeks ago but only now am loading my favorite shots from the trip. It’s been years since I have been there and, frankly, little has changed. The Rockies are still pretty damn rocky.

Room With a View

I stayed at the very castle-y Fairmont Banff Springs which was beautiful as expected. Terrific view from my room which made for a nice way to start and end the days. There was plenty of photographic opportunities in that old structure and I did take a few shots destined for black and white but just settled on the one below.

 

Landscapers Paradise

I’m certain there many fine landscape photographers who make a good living from shooting the land. Hats off to those cats as it’s not easy finding one shot where everywhere you look is beautiful. And the early morning starts and late day close to hit the golden light is a commitment. Although the first photo I took was mid-drive into town. Wish I know where this was – just pulled over int a little scenic spot. The atmosphere here was comforting.

 

Take Me to the River

The nearest landscape landmark to the Fairmont is arguably Bow Falls. It’s just a short drive down from the hotel and is a really nice open space. I had some perspectives in mind having looked through Google maps. Poked around a bit and settled on this view from alongside the falls.

Looking down the Bow River to my right gave me a bit of a windy curve to work with but location not ideal and really didn’t have many options. At least none that I was willing to try and I was a trifle underdressed to have any level of patience.

What did catch my eye was how the scene was getting dappled lighting as the clouds passed overhead. Things were constantly changing but there was a pattern that kept repeating on the mountainside that I wanted to capture. It took a few tries as I needed to capture the highlight but when it was positioned such that there was separation against the treeline. Some judicious selective editing ended up with this.

That light was also doing a nice job of settling off the treeline and I grabbed a color version of just that scene.

All of the above water shots were taken with my trusty D700 with the Lee Big Stopper to slow down to exposure.

 

Jack Frost

Forced myself out of bed the following morning. Wasn’t entirely thrilled with the idea but figured it would be worth it. As expected I was freezing not too long after settling in at the shoreline, carefully maneuvering among the rocks. I had a vision of this image bursting with a hint of alpenglow on the distant summit, with its reflection in the pools of water in the foreground. Time was ticking and the color was draining. And for the life of me I could not find a position that balanced the foreground and background. Too wide and it minimized the falls and the mountain peak as perspective stretched out. But too much pull was giving me much grief with depth of field. In retrospect I should have shot multiple focal points and stacked exposures but… see above re: hypothermia. Had to sacrifice the foreground and this is all I had to show for my efforts.

Looking down the Bow in the opposite direction wasn’t doing me any favours either. My expectation of the light was failing me. I ended up finding an interesting form in the nearby ice (which, incidentally, was cracking in such a way that I was sure there was a grizzly in the vicinity), but again struggled to make it work. Although when I revisited the shot in post I actually ended up liking the mood of the darker exposure. So what the hell.

 

Looking Over Your Shoulder

There is a fairly old adage in photography that you should always look 180 degrees from where you are shooting. Oftentimes what’s behind you can be more interesting than what’s in front. As my fingers went numb I figured I had missed the light. But when I turned around the trees were getting kissed as it slowly rose on the other side of the mountain crest. Finally. So I watched as the action unfolded, composed and moved and recomposed, and waited and froze and shot for a while longer. What I ended up with made the early start and frozen digits worth it, with nice warm sidelighting firing up the treeline against the cool of the rushing Bow River and misty mountains beyond.

It’s times like these where having the resolving power of the D800 would have really paid off given the extreme crop and distant detail of the scene. Nevertheless it ended up making a nice print – I’m considering a larger version in canvas.

 

Odds and Sods

I’ll end this with a few final photos from in and around the hotel. More time, more planning, and more clothing would have been welcome.