Highway 66 - October 14, 2013

Yesterday the sky was overcast and cloudy, this morning there wasn`t a cloud in the sky which was disappointing because I was in the mountains yesterday but wasn`t today. After a late decision to go for a drive I found myself heading out of town. I wasn`t sure where I wanted to go and ended up driving down Highway 66 past Bragg Creek. The bridge is still out at Alan Bill from the floods this past spring so there was a bit of traffic as cars took turns going across the temporary bridge. It was such a nice day that there were lots and lots of people out on the road. Early on the drive I passed some trees that caught my eye but I didn't stop thinking that there would be lots of trees to look at. I drove all the way to the end of the road at Little Elbow. I was really hoping for more yellow leaves but many of the trees that I could see from the road were now naked. I was a tiny bit disappointed and on the way back stopped the car near the river to see if I could make a photo of something.

Walking along the edge of the river I noticed that there were some large rocks I could use to get a vantage point that would put the distant mountains just above some rapids. I knew going in that I should have changed my shoes but I thought I'd be careful enough that it wouldn't be a problem. The texture on the soles of my shoes wore away quite some time ago. When it rains I walk differently because there is a particular angle at which my shoes will hydroplane on things like wet tile, or plywood in construction zones, or even wet crosswalk paint. I'm not inexperienced at recovering from slipping in the streets and have only hit ground once that I can recall. So having hopped across a few rocks and noticing that one of my shoes had dipped into the river should have been a clear warning that my shoe would probably not be stable going forward. I was doing OK for a while but my attention was on getting the shot when my foot went full on into the water. I recovered but it wasn`t long before both feet had become submerged. I gave up on getting the shot when I fell backwards and found myself sitting in the river. Below is a photo that I captured from the middle of the Elbow river.

Luckily I had some extra clothes in the car and was able to get out of my wet pants, socks and shoes. I figured I should head home cause things just weren`t working out. As I drove I passed the trees that I`d seen on the way in I debated with myself about stopping and finally decided that I would. The fall colours are quickly fading and I wanted to take advantage of whatever is left. I parked the car along the side of the road and composed some shots of the trees.

I`m pleased with this photo and capturing it helped make the trip worthwhile. I love photographing trees and I love fall.

Thanks for looking
Brad.

Elbow Lake - October 13, 2013

Made a short family hike out to Elbow Lake on Sunday looking for some Fall colours. On the drive out we passed lots of yellow trees but as we made our way further south along Highway 40 and into higher elevations the scenery started to become snow covered. Around the Highwood Pass a lot of the leaves have fallen already as winter starts to settle in. For our trip the sky was cloudy and overcast which made it feel even more like winter. We walked around the lake and down the Elbow valley a ways towards Tombstone mountain. I was hoping to get to Edworthy falls but it was a bit further than I remembered and we ended up turning around. Elbow lake is just staring to freeze over and there was a light dusting of snow covering the ice, for a few minutes the sun was illuminating Tombstone mountain and I made this photo.

With the overcast light and the low contrast on the snow the image looked monochromatic already so I finished it in black and white.

Before we turned around we came across a few wind-swept larches.



Thanks for looking.
Brad

Larches at Chester Lake - October 6th, 2013

I escaped the city a bit late (around noon) and wanted to drive down highway 40 to look for fall colours. My original plans for the day were to go to Chester lake to see the Larch trees that grow there. I'd been there a couple years ago with the kids in the summer and I had noticed that there were larch trees along the edge of the lake. Anytime I see larch trees I imagine going to that place in the fall to see them. For those of you that don't know larch trees are an evergreen (or Christmas tree) who's needles turn an intense yellow in the fall and fall off, just like a leafy tree. The needles grow out again in the spring and are soft like a koosh ball. They're usually found at alpine levels - high up on the mountains often at the top of the treeline. Now that it is early October and fall is quite established I hoped they'd be in their glory.

Kananaskis - Sept 6, 2013

Highway 40 into Kananaskis was just opened up from the winter gates for another 20kms. The highway had been closed due to the June floods causing all kinds of trouble with creeks and bridge crossings. There are still problems with the lower part of Highway 40 and it remains closed. The news sites were saying that the road was extended to the Lost Lemon Lookout. I was curious to find out where this was exactly because I'd really like to go explore Elbow lake and the Elbow valley before winter sets in. Looking on the internet, there is a Lost Lemon mine, but it doesn't really indicate where the lookout is on Highway 40. Searching for the term "Lost Lemon Lookout" would only show the news articles that said that the highway was now open to the Lost Lemon Lookout.. kind of redundant I think. So, after work on Friday I drove out there to see where the highway was closed.

The good news, if your also wondering, is that the Lost Lemon Lookout is past the Highwood pass summit by about 5 or more kms which is good news if you want to go to Elbow lake, Ptarmigan cirque or climb Mt. Rae or something near the Highwood pass.

Fall is in the pass at the higher elevations, the plants are starting to turn brilliant shades of yellow and red with many hues of green still present. While I was there the clouds were low and it was raining off and on. I was one of very few cars on the highway so I felt comfortable stopping whenever something caught my eye.

Below is a photograph I took of the fall colours just beyond the pass. It was raining at the time so I took the shot out of the window of my car.

On the drive out I also spent some time with a small herd of big horn sheep. They were at the corner of Highway 40 and the turnoff to the lakes and are often seen in this location. I like this group shot.

Sitting quietly in the grass the sheep eventually wandered close to where I was sitting.

Thanks for looking.
Brad.

Dragons and Clouds - July 23, 2013

On the way home from work found myself driving through Bridgeland. There is a dog park on top of the hill there and I stoped to look for wild flowers. Instead I found that there were dragonflies about. This fellow sat on the twig and was reasonably still. I was using my 300mm lens with extension tubes on it. This was the first time that I'd tried the tubes out after picking them up more than a year ago. After a bit of wrangling with the equipment I was able to get a few macro shots of the dragonfly. In the original pic you can make out the lenses on the dragonfly's eyes which is pretty neat. I enjoy shooting macro shots like this not always for the end result but because I'm able to sit and focus (ha ha.. focus) on one thing for a while and forget everything else, like having a bit of tunnel vision. It's a nice escape from my mind - plus you get to stop, slowdown and look closely at something that you normally wouldn't see.

Then later in the evening it looked like there would be some interesting clouds and maybe a rainbow out east of the city so off I went.. reminds me of that aloof person that's always off chasing butterflies and rainbows. Hey, that's me! Anyway, as I was driving down the gravel road following the rainbow but it wasn't very strong and I couldn't find a composition to put it in on. There was this cool light coming from the west where the sun was making its way down to the horizon. I spotted this line of trees that were creating cool shadows on the ground in my rear view mirror so I stopped made a photograph of it.

Further down the road, I came across this farmers field where they had started harvesting. I liked the curves the hay makes on the ground and the interesting sky in the background. I tried to capture it using a couple of filters to block the light from the sky a bit so the camera could also capture the darker-in-shadow foreground.

I left here and while driving back stopped to photograph big storm clouds in the sky. As of yet, I've not posted any of those photos, but if I do, they'll show up here.

Thanks for looking,
Brad.

Morley Flats, again - July 18, 2013

Tonight I went back to Morley Flats in an attempt to try and capture the wildflowers with sunlight instead of shade. What's kind of cool is the mountains in the photo include both Mt. Yamnuska and Door Jamb mountain/Loder peak, which I've climbed recently. I used made two photos that I joined together to make a panorama.  I wasn't sure this would turn out when I shot it, but I like the results.

Two days ago I tried to take some photo's here and was attacked by mosquitoes and was bit on my hands by ants after bracing the camera against a fence post for stability. Today, in preparation I doused myself with bug spray to try and ward off the mosquitoes. This worked OK on my exposed skin but after the sun went behind the mountain the mosquitoes came out in force and were biting me through my shirt! Also, I was wearing sandals and ants were crawling onto my feet and biting my toes. There were ants everywhere,  it wasn`t like I accidentally ened up on an ant hill for a few minutes. I moved around a lot and every where I stopped the ants (and mosquitoes) were there. I would not recommend tenting on Morley Flats or lying down on the ground for any reason. However, if your looking for lots and lots of bluebells and brown-eyed susans with some mountains in the background this is the place to be.

Any other shots from today that I upload will be here.

Thanks for looking
Brad.

Morley Flats - July 16, 2013

On the weekend I'd driven out to Kananaskis to climb the Wedge and on the way I'd passed Morley Flats and noticed the fields of wildflowers. I wanted to go back and try to capture them with some nice sunset light. So, after work on Tuesday I drove west towards the mountains. It was still a bit early and I figured I'd have lots of time to get there so I drove out on highway 68 towards Sibbald and stopped a few times to shoot some wildflowers along the side of the road.

Either it was further than I thought or I spent too much time dwindling because by the time I got to Morley Flats the sun had slipped in behind the mountains casting a shadow across the field. I wasn't going to get a field full of back-lit flowers that I'd hoped for.

As I balanced my camera against a fence post to make some shots I was attacked by swarms of mosquitoes and a few ants that had crawled up the post to bite my fingers. It made for a stress-full situation and I didn't hang out too long before I jumped back into the car. Unfortunately I'd left my windows open and a bunch of mosquitoes had flown into the car. I drove home with the sunroof and all windows open hoping that the wind inside the car would somehow suck the bugs out.

I need to go and try again before the summer flowers fade. This time I'll get there early and spray down with bug spray. Any other photos from today can be found here.

Thanks for looking.
Brad