Banff 2017 - Day 2
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BANFF 2017 - DAY 1
Sunrise at -32 deg C
Link to full sized image: http://www.tom-hill.biz/Galleries/Scenics/Canada/i-7KGmkXF/A
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These images were taking on my first full day in Canada. While the previous day was cold--down to about 025 deg C--this was was really cold. I figured that out right away when trying to start the car. The battery almost did not make the car turn over.
After the engine started, the car outside temp reading was showing -32 deg C. That is by far the most cold I had personally experienced since I left Cold Lake in 2001. With that temperature reading, I fully met my overall objective for going on this trip, freezing my rear off.
My first shooting location for the day was 45 minutes down the road back near the town of Banff. Near there are the Vermillion Lakes. These are quite picturesque though less so when the lakes are completely frozen over. To make anything remotely acceptable in these conditions, you need to be creative. As it was, things other than simply the super low temperature was weighing against me.
Sunrise Vermillion Lakes, Banff National Park
Link to full sized imaged: http://www.tom-hill.biz/Galleries/Scenics/Canada/i-PbmP8Mz/A
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The challenge for this location was due to the relatively popularity of this location. There were a tremendous number of foot tracks visible in the snow. My task was to compose a picturesque image while avoiding too many man-made elements like this footprints.
This image was made using light reflecting off ice. The curious thing was this ice. On inspection it was related to a very small stream pumping a small but consistent amount of water into the freezing weather. As you can see here, the newest ice was clear and reflective which I tried to use as much as I could.
Snow Covered Trees - Lake Louise Alberta Canada
Link to full sized imaged: http://www.tom-hill.biz/Galleries/Scenics/Canada/i-wwtjQGt/A
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This image was shot near yesterday's best image. It's a tight view of the snow covered trees near the shoreline.
Sometimes is hard to get to a narrow field of view when shooting with a wide-angle lens. As a result, many intimate images are lost.
In this case, I was shooting ice fog rising from the extremely cold water using a telephone zoom lens. As I focused my shooting on the steaming cold water, I noticed the very interesting geometric characteristics of the scene immediately across the river from my location. Instead of taking the wide-view, I shot a much more intimate view using my zoom lens as you see here.
Snow at Sunset - Lake Louise
Link to full-sized image: http://www.tom-hill.biz/Galleries/Scenics/Canada/i-DCQXzX5/A
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As I've noted many times before, it's sometimes very hard to understand how capable the cameras in our phones are.
This image was shot at the mouth of the river leading from Lake Louise. While I took many interesting images from this exact location using my very serious and very expensive Digital Single Lens Reflex, among the best were shot with my phone.
Perhaps because of the simplicity of a phone camera, you can make very artistic images. This instant was no exception.
Even more interesting was the relatively minimum number of people presented in this image. This contrasts with the actual reality of dozens of dozens of people wandering around the location. For some reason people are obvious when using my phone than when using my big DSLR.
While the morning was very cold, conditions warmed considerably by the evening when this image was made. Even then, temperatures were still in the mid-negative twenties.
As it was, this day was the coldest of the four I spent in Canada. While I was a bit cold by any standard, my new arctic clothing worked beautifully which made me very happy.