*Dawna-Lea has a new original painting for sale called "Siblings". It is also available in our various panorama print sizes.
          "Siblings" blog posting.           "Siblings" original painting.           "Siblings" Prints.

*

North from Golden BC there are only a handful of low elevation passes that connect the Rockies to areas to the west. Such passes are very important for animal movement, and should to be managed accordingly. Unfortunately, our Provincial government has dropped the ball regarding planning for many of these areas, and their future is uncertain.

One such low elevation connectivity corridor is the iconic Athabasca Pass, right on the border between Jasper National Park and crown forest land of BC. It is one of the most isolated areas in the southern Canadian Rockies. From the east (Jasper) you can get there after three days of hiking. From the west, access is more problematic as you either have to use a barge operated occassionally by a forest company, or you can charter a helicopter. With the helicopter option, the Golden Backcountry Recreation Access Plan does not permit landings near the pass, but only kilometers downstream at the Pacific Creek/Jeffrey Creek junction.

Fortunately for this area, the local forest company on the BC side, Wood River Forest Inc., has worked well with interest groups to preserve wilderness values. As well, much of this area has been designated as caribou habitat that is for now off limits to logging. This area would be a top candidate for parks status, for both biological and historical values, should that discussion occur in the future.

At the top of the image are the two small water bodies right at the pass - the historic Committee's Punchbowl to the left, and a more shallow pond to the right. I had hiked above those lakes into a slide path. The foliage was lush and wet from a recent rainfall. I vividly remember all the bear diggings, as well as that feeling when hikers realize that their boots are starting to loose their water-proofing.

"Athabasca Pass"

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...in the middle of paradise. Upstream was a mountain caribou foraging in a distant meadow. Downstream was the promise of evening light on Thunderbolt Peak. It was late afternoon, and therefore time to get an early supper in order to free up the entire evening for photography. It would have been a short hike from the footbridge back to the tent in the Tonquin Valley of Jasper National Park. Except there was this medusa-like algae swaying beneath me in the Astoria River.

I am not easily hypnotized (at least that is what the Great Reveen once told me). But my eyes had been playing ping pong for the last hour or so between watching that caribou and being transfixed by the sunlight dancing on those algal covered rocks in the river. Finally, the late afternoon light hit those rocks just the right way, and I broke out of doo-doo land - swearing at myself for not seeing the shot earlier.

I went from standing still to fast forward getting the camera gear set up to capture the patterns in the river. There were only about 20 minutes left before the sun dropped too low to light up the river rocks. Realizing quickly that only a telephoto would isolate the scene, the camera seemed to work by itself capturing a variety of exposures and shutter speeds.

As the sun disappeared over the Ramparts the magic suddenly left and it seemed that the last half hour did not exist at all, on that bridge in the middle of paradise.


                                                                                 "Astoria Abstract"

"                                     

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It is a real challenge for single images or video, however well crafted, to tell the story of an animal's life - even a day in an animals life. The complexities of their behaviour, social interactions and environment are simply way too immense for us to grasp what is going on. As well, humans are poor at being able to understand something that we do not have direct experience with. Compassion for wildlife does not readily happen from an armchair, but is often developed more from personal experience.

The times I value most photographing wildlife are those when I have been able to spend the time to be with, observe, and appreciate them in their environment. For this image I tried to capture an image which would best reveal a bit about this day in the life of these bears.

The grizzly sow was leading her cubs away from a male bear that she perceived to be a danger to her cubs. Within a two hour period they would travel many kilometers away from that male bear. In doing so, she was moving away from the best food source that she was aware of for her family.

"A Day in the Life"

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Flute music anyone? A grizzly bear cub was playing with a stick while I had my index finger down permanently on my cameras motor drive at 8 frames per second.

This image was taken with a Canon 7D camera, 400 mm lens, with a 1.4 telextender (equalling a 900 mm lens) with the camera resting on a beanbag from my vehicle window.
                                                                                 "Grizzly Urscendo"

"                                     

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If there is a backpack in the Rockies that could be called a pilgrimage, it is the Berg Lake trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park. Many locals make this trip at least once every five years, and consider it a barometer of their personal fitness level.

For a photographer, it can be a barometer of their progression in ability. I for one have chucked out many images from past trips, partly due to the increase in quality from film to digital, but also due to changing perspectives as a photographer.

"Mount Robson Morning"

Just like many other often photographed areas, the challenge to capture images that are unique has increased. But this is nothing that some planning and effort cannot overcome. With that in mind, here's a few recommendations:

* The north face of Mount Robson is the star attraction. It gets hit by both direct light in both early morning and late evening, so you can plan for two different golden hour compositions of the peak each day.
* Try different locations for your photography of the peak itself. Many morning/evening images you see of the peak are taken right from the main Berg Lake campground. Instead, think of booking at either the Rearguard or Robson Pass campgrounds, which offer different views. An additional bonus is that those campgrounds are a lot smaller and quieter (especially after June 25th) than the main Berg Lake campground, allowing for better mid-day naps for you star photographers.
* I have seen little in the way of star photography from this area, so if you are up for it, give this a try for something original. It's my next challenge for this area.
* Berg Lake is on the edge of deep wilderness areas of Jasper National Park via the North Boundary Trail. Do not miss out on at least taking a day hike into this area from your Berg Lake basecamp.

And remember that wise statement about it being about the journey and not the destination? With that in mind, there are some incredible sights along the 22 km of trail on your way up to Berg Lake.

"Mount Robson Interior Rainforest"

The whole Berg Lake area is spectacular. It is easy to let that scenery hypnotize you into taking snapshots. I've chucked out enough of those for all of us.

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Just had to post a shot from the Canadian Rockies alpine. I know, April is way too early at this latitude to see sights like this - but I'm just trying to prepare us for the hiking season to come. In that regard, my next couple of posts I will focus on classic multi-day backpack trips for photographers around here.


This image was taken at the headwater of Mosquito Creek, Banff National Park. I spent most of the afternoon searching for the right spot for an evening image, knowing that the last rays of the sun would not hit the most interesting peaks (sun setting in the west, while the most interesting peaks face east). A sunstar combined with the last direct light on the meadow was a good alternative.

"Alpine Bliss"

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I have photographed this scene many times. On this spring day, three generation aof mountain goats traversed this natural bridge - an adult followed by a one month old kid, followed by a yearling. This was quite possibly the first time the kid traversed this route, as it was very tentative crossing aover the noisy turbulent spring waterway.

                                                                                 "Nature's Overpass"

"                                     

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Solitary, highly motivated and feisty are words that characterize this little mammal. They live for an average of only 18 months, so have to make the most of it. My best luck at finding them has been at the shoreline of small lakes in the Lake O'Hara area of Yoho Park.

"Navigator Shrew"

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This image of a grizzly bear would never have happened if not for a little visualizing. Let me explain.

The Canadian Rockies has it's fair share of iconic landscapes and animals. You just have to seach the web and download the great e-books that are available to help you locate them. Often my photography is seeking to capturing both those landscapes and animals together in one image. That often means resisting the urge to pull out my 400 mm lens for a close-up. It also means having to have my act together regarding knowledge of an animals habitat and daily patterns - as well as of course incorporating that into what still would otherwise be a good landscape image. Most importantly, it requires some visualizing of the image beforehand. Sometimes that visualizing happens months before - sometimes hours before, rarely minutes before the image is taken.

That task ups the risk/reward somewhat. It does not all come together easily, and I have spent many days in the field empty-handed. But when it does all come together, it is magic. In this case, Mistaya Morning Magic.

"Mistaya Morning"

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Many of you have seen Takakkaw Falls in the Yoho Valley. It is indeed magnificent. The neighbouring valley to the south, Lake O'Hara, is equally as awesome and attracts it's fair share of visitors. If you want to see some of the best scenery that the Rockies has to offer, head to one of those places.

There are other options. Say you want more peace and quiet. You want to photograph without seeing anyone else with a tripod, or anyone else period. Then do I have 100 square kilometers of National Park for you, much of it easily accessed from the Trans Canada Highway. The area encompasses the west end of Yoho Park, close to where I live - a refuge where wood nymphs may still exist.

"Warm and Cool"

While there are some outstanding features here (like Wapta Falls and the remote Ice River Valley), the area invites you to take a slower, more (can I say) "ecosystem-based approach" to your photography. You will likely do most or all of your image-making away from your vehicle. Good images will take time to make, will take introspection - and will challenge your ability to deal with compositions that are often initially chaotic. If you are a landscape photographer, you will not be chasing light on large vistas so much as figuring out how to compose yellow orchids in an old growth spruce forest. If you are a wildlife photographer, you may be wondering if elk will show up in a clearing that evening based upon seeing lots of browse sign in a recently burned area.

"Deer Lodge Cabin"

This is not an area for photographers to try to fill up memory cards with Rocky Mountain highlights. Instead it beckons you to take the time to let your creativity really breathe, to capture your own unique interpretations of this special place.

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Ask any wildlife photographer and they will tell you that the most important thing to focus on is the eyes. It makes sense, as eye contact has been key to communication for a long time - and we use it everyday to help us interact. My dog uses it quite effectively with me to get treats after a walk.

Never having had a mentor in photography, I had to take such advice and make sense of it myself. My initial thoughts went like - "O.K. , but how can I focus on the eyes of an animal 500 meters away?", and (believe it or not) for close-ups, "which eye". Such questions quickly sort themselves out when in the field taking images, as common sense prevails.

Today, with the advent of precise autofocusing cameras and lenses, the standard to get key parts of the images critically sharp has increased. A general rule that I use is the larger an eye is in the frame, the greater importance it is to get that eye in critically sharp focus. If you are shooting with a lens wide open, it is easier said than done - and that is one reason why shooting frames in rapid succession is recommended.

"Eye Am"

DAY 3
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Three Days into Yoho

When in such areas I realize what we have here in Canada. We have places in nature that have all or most of the cogs and wheels left. Places where we can still immerse ourselves in the beauty and harshness of wild places - where things are not so much in our control. Such areas are becoming fewer and fewer, and I have been able to see this change happen slowly but steadily, as both a photographer and a natural resource manager.

Balfour Pass is right on the contintental divide where you can have one foot in Yoho National Park and one foot in Banff National Park. That is, one foot in Alberta and one foot in British Columbia. The landscape is large, and I could not help but take most of the images with my 17mm lens, just wanting to take it all in. This morning was no exception.

"Balfour Environs"

About noon, I left the pass to head back to the trail head, backtracking my incoming route. It was quite hot for September, and with a sore knee, I was thankful for a lighter pack. The enormity of the Yoho Glacier area once again came into view. and bedrock wet from stream spray made for enticing image-making.

"Slippery When Wet"

Before intersecting the trial that would take me back to the parking lot, I had to ford the Yoho River. Days ago when I crossed it the first time, it was hip deep and I crossed with little trouble. Now there was at least double the flow of water due to the three days of hot weather. The only thing to do was wait until the next morning to make the crossing, after cooler night temperature decreased the amount of glacial meltwater.

I let out a whoop for joy after finally making it across, while keeping the camera gear dry. I would not have to suffer the embarrasement of having Parks Canada wardens come looking for me (been there, done that).

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Waking up the next morning, there were two things that grabbed my attention. All the fresh mountain goat tracks nearby (so I really did hear something!), as well as the great light in the sky to the west that was changing fast. There was time to compose a few shots before the orangey-red hues faded.

"Balfour Bivouac"

I turned 180 degrees to face east, and there it was, about 500 meters away - the Balfour Hut. It was vacant, otherwise there would have been lights glowing from it's windows last night. But before packing up and hiking there, I had twenty minutes before the sun busted out from below the east horizon. That's twenty minutes to compose a photograph, that with the low angle of light from that morning sun, might bring the details of this landscape to life.

"Lights On"

DAY 1
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Three Days into Yoho

A victim of a warming climate, the Yoho Glacier is receeding. The landscape exposed by the melting is a raw mixture of multi-hued bedrock and talus, interspersed with islands of vegetation. It is one of my three most favourite places to photograph in the Canadian Rockies.

"Bedrock Exposed"

The trip afforded views from right alongside moraines and bedrock exposed from the glacier. There were many areas where a photographer could spend days exploring the lines, shapes and textures - only to come back again when different lighting enables different creations.

Diableret Falls is a seldom photographed jewel of the Rockies. I've only seen one other image of this waterfall. I stayed in this spot until early evening to capture the last direct sunlight on the falls.

"Diableret Falls"

Having to make up for lost time, I packed and pushed hard for my days objective - the ACC Balfour Hut. It was getting dark at about 10 PM, and still no hut in sight (left the GPS in the van). Walking through talus slopes in partial darkness, even with a headlamp, was no picnic. About a half hour after banging my knee on a rock, it was time to abort the idea of getting to the hut for the night. Time to find a place for a bivouac...

THE EVENING BEFORE
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Three Days into Yoho

Call it a personal ritual. Just before leaving on a backpacking photography trip, I dip my hands into the stream flowing from the landscape to be travelled into. It is a way of accepting that the terrain, weather and circumstances will have a major say in what is encountered on the trip - and it will be up to me to adapt in order to get the images.

While not a long way to the destination of Balfour Pass, it would be slow going as for the most part there would be no trail. Having ventured into the area years before, I knew that most of the hike would be through boulder fields. As such, the trip was planned to occur when the weather forecast indicated three golden globes of sun, to help ensure that the going was not slippery wet on the rocks to be traversed.

"New Journey"

Solo trips like this can be fulfilling, but they do have challenges. Part of the challenge is to go without comfort. Knowing that rock hopping and bushwacking with a full pack is grief-oriented, I decided to lighten the load by taking a bivy sack instead of a tent, and leaving some photogear behind. That proved to be a good decision, due to a few circumstances during the trip.

This image is from the evening before heading out. That's Takakkaw Falls to the left and Cathedral Mountain in the background. Editing the images from this September trip is ongoing now, and more will be posted here soon.

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SIBLINGS
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New Print from Dawna-Lea
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo

siblings, locked iin a staring match, as they emerge from their underground nes

If you ever have the opportunity to look closely at an owl feather you will observe an incredible flannel-like textured surface and frayed edges, designed for silent flight. The Burrowing Owl feather gave me a wonderful opportunity to share a comical moment in the family life of this ground dwelling owl. In this painting I was able to combine the details of an owl feather with an observant parent watching over three siblings, locked in a starring match, as they emerge from their undergound nest.

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SURPRISE!
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Our Print of the Month for September 2012 is "Surprise!"
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo

This spring I had the pleasure of photographing a grizzly bear family. The sow and 4 month old cubs spent most of their daytime hours foraging and sleeping - so I felt quite fortunate to be able to observe the cubs when they were playing.

Play between grizzly bear cubs can be a no holds barred tustle, complete with biting and scratching. But the use of stealth is not underrated, and the cub who snoozes often looses .

I usually keep the camera ISO setting below 400 when I use my 7D camera, as the sensor can exhibt too much noise above that level. But in this instance, I had to push that higher in order to better freeze the motion of the mischievous cub.

Canon 7D, 400 mm lens. 1/400 sec, f5.6, ISO 1000.

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RAVEN'S FEATHER
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Our Print of the Month for August 2012 is "Raven Feathers"
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo

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EONS
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Our Print of the Month for July 2012 is "Eons"
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo

At first I thought it was the pattern and lines of the stream, green algae and bedrock that drew me to make this composition. But only later in the day did I realize that it was something else.

It was a 3 hour hike to get back to my vehicle, but I had a hard time leaving - and ended up travelling out in partial darkness. On the way out, as often happens, my mind started dwelling on family and my two children. But they are really no longer kids, and that as usual was making me feel a little older than need be.

Then it sunk in. That flowing stream and ancient bedrock had been giving me the opposite feeling. That stream has been flowing and carving that bedrock for a long time - magnitudes longer that I have been around. Being there was a kind of fountain of youth, so to speak - making me feel much younger in comparison.

Just as in photography, perspective in life can be gained by looking at things in new ways.

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This is a place for the soul. Numbingly blue water; rocks with orange, black and green lichens; real old forests supplying loads of oxygen to you…all surrounded, closely, by a circle of mountain peaks that are part of the life blood of local mountaineers.

This solo canoeist is finding his own place here. I waited to take this image until the wind died down enough to reveal the reflection of Wiwaxy Peaks, as the last rays of the sun lifted from the lake.

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You have to know that here is one little bear that did something wrong. Though, in their world there are no big arguements between parent and offspring. A few body gestures and the occasional vocalization usually does the trick, and all is well again.

On this occasion, I took around 20 images, but liked this one best due to the interaction between sow and cub.

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For a number of years now I've wanted to get back into the Amethyst Lakes area of Jasper National Park. Last summer, things finally came together for a backpack trip during a 5 day non-stop-clear-sky period.

To capture the real essense of this place in one image meant including morning light with the lofty Ramparts and Amethyst Lake. But the real challenge was to get a photograph combining those two geographic elements with the iconic animal of the area - the mountain caribou.

As long as the forecast for clear weather held true, the hardest part of capturing that mountain-lake-caribou trilogy image would be the last part - having a mountain caribou ever so kindly walk into the frame of the image. Having been in the area years before, I had an idea of the habits of the caribou, but it was still a real guess as to where they would be.

The evening before, I had walked all over the part of the valley near my tent camp, looking for the most ideallic foreground with which to get at least the two geographic elements in the image.

The next morning I arrived at my chosen location near some small ponds before sunlight started reflecting off the Ramparts. Quite often, early morning means calm water, and that is exactly what occurred - resulting in great reflections. Being pre-occuppied with composing the scene through a wide angle lens, I only noticed the caribou in the distance after looking up from the camera. At that point, I was sorely tempted to abandon the wide angle image and break out the long telephoto lens that I had painfully (and insanely) carried into the valley. While the lure of caribou close-ups was strong, this wide angle image which included all three elements (albiet with the caribou far away) was stronger. Close-up images of the caribou would have to wait for later.

We think that having the caribou as just a small part of this grand landscape adds a bit of subtle magic to the scene. If you wish to order a print, we recom

mend an image size of 16 x 24" or larger in order to best see the caribou (click here to see a crop of the image showing the caribou).

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NATURE'S CONTAINERS
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Dawna-Lea's journey with natural plant material

Click the above poster to see images of the creative process and final containers.

You are welcome to see the a display of the wonderful artwork Dawna-Lea has created over the past number of months. The display is currently at the ART GALLERY OF GOLDEN. It includes baskets made of red-osier dogwood and cattails, a purse made from cedar bark, a water tight container made from birch bark - and on and on. Take a step back in time, and come and see containers made wholly from natural plant material.

Infinity works both ways - smaller and larger. I find it difficult, as a nature artist, to look both of those ways consistently. Most of the time, it's the grand landscapes with ephemeral light, or it's the silent lives of wild animals that draw my attention. However, occasionally, one trips upon a small piece of mother earth that opens the blinders to that other side of nature photography.

The close-up photographs that I like the best are the abstracts - the compositions that have texture and patterns, and make the viewer try and piece together what is happening in the image. For "Ochre Patterns" the viewer has to sort out whether this is indeed a close-up of something, or if it is a vast landscape of some river system of a lost world.

Well, it is a river system, but in the finer sense of the term. A clue to the scale can be found via the small tuft of grass at bottom right. That's right...rivulets of clear water are flowing by orange-coloured soil. It's the Paint Pots of Kootenay National Park. Lots of people walk meters from this very spot each day of the summer on their way to see those Paint Pots. Argueably, the best viewing is right here, down below, on that other side of infinity.

WHITE ON WHITE
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Our Print of the Month for January/February 2012 is "White on White"
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo

In the next couple of hours snow will cover the ground for good. winter is on it's way in. The next day I would have trouble spotting this pair of mountain goats high up on the mountain slope. White on white.

It can snow on you at any time of year in the Canadian Rockies. As a photographer, that's a good thing. It not only forces you to be prepared, but it can add another element to the composition and essense of an image. For this image, it tells the storyline of the next six months for these goats.

By early evening, after spending most of the day on the mountain with this nanny and kid, I had all my spare clothes on. That means everything. The problem with putting on spare long underwear is that you have to put it on underneath everything else. Sorry about the mental picture...but just having to go through that reinforced what I already knew - that before me were two incredibly adapted creatures going through the day seemingly indifferent to the snowy cold weather.

Back in 1983 Douglas Chadwick wrote a book entitled "A Beast the Color of Winter". It's highly recommended reading for anyone curious about how this animal lives in some of the most inhospitable weather and terrain that the mountains of North America have to offer.

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When out in the backcountry doing nature photography, I used to only occasionally run into others doing the same thing. We could recognize each other immediately; the tripod was the give-away, the piece of equipment that said "I know you". It's the same today, except there's more tripods than ever out there - and those toting them are quite often informed, dedicated, and an inch shorter than if they did not carry all that photo gear.

With more photographers out there, things have changed - for the better I think. It has helped push the envelope - forcing one to work harder and think more to get unique images of the wild. Take the Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park, for example. I've hiked up there many times, taking lots of images of this classic Rocky Mountain area. But do a quick search on the web today and you can see many great images of the Iceline Trail.

So, with all those images out there, to get photographs that are unique, one has to do more unique things. Sometimes, just changing the way you look at nature works well. For instance, go macro, seek storms, or use the new digital tools to your greatest advantage. Another way - and something for the explorers out there - is to spend time in more out of the way areas. I'm not necessarily referring to places like Namib Park in Africa (I wish), but maybe just getting off trail a bit more. This image called "Yoho Power Pond" is one such example.

There is a little travelled route adjacent and to the west of the Iceline Trail that I was always curious about, where the glacier has recently retreated. This summer I finally got up there. Here, was new ground, literally - where the recently retreated glacier had left behind bare mountain, boulders and best yet, rock grooves with water pools from a recent rain. With no one else's tripod around, I waited until evening and took a number of images that I hope show the raw beauty and power of this area.

Nature photographers often make repeat journeys to certain areas each year. The reasons for doing so include to continue to get to know a favourite area well and capture a more diverse range of images, or to continue a quest to get an ultimate image that matches their vision for a place.

I'm a real fan of these photographic vision quests. The better one can get to know an area, the better opportunities arise for photography. That's why the first time I photograph in an area I don't expect to get any "Canadian Grade A images". But after immersing yourself in a landscape, ideas start in your mind's eye - maybe some time later - that help you lock down possibilities to take your photography to the next level.

Along the Icefields Parkway we are fortunate to still have glaciers big enough to dominate broad mountainous landscapes. These landscapes are populated in specific areas by megafauna. That's right, I said megafauna - "giant", "very large" or "large" animals, roaming wild. All this mixed together has been the brew for many a photographer's vision quest (along with other frothy brews inbetween). Get it all in one image and maybe you've got something.

As a photographer, I've been drawn to these landscapes for some time. Every spring, my now 20 year old van has seen me through trips in seach of images of these glacially-active areas. Feels like I've lived in these areas. Some trips were a write-off for images. Diary reads: "snowed out", "where'd the wildlife go?", "bum leg", "photographs suck", etc. etc. But sometimes it all comes together.

For this image, I waited, hopefully, for the bighorn sheep to move between myself and the glacier, letting the contrast between the ice and their bodies emphasize their presense.

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FREE SPIRITS
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Our Print of the Month for July 2011 is Dawna-Lea's "Free Spirits".
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo.

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APPROACHING THE ICEFIELD
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Our Print of the Month for June 2011 is "Approaching the Icefield".
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo.


Approaching the Icefield

Here's the story behind the image:

I love topographic maps. Truly, they are what dreams can be made of for nature photographers. Doesn't matter whether we are talking about paper or digital maps or Google Earth composites - all can serve to spark an active imagination. Blame it all on David Thompson...He started it - but I digress....

One can locate certain focus points or ideallic locations for photography based in part on winter topographic map dreaming. Making a list of how to get to those places and when to be there has turned out to be the easy part. Getting the time to make it happen, and then having the weather and circumstances fall into place - well, that is the tough part.

One such ideallic location for me has been Snowbird Pass, which is a remote spot right on the border between Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. For some reason I never got there until last summer. It's a 1 day backpack, followed by a good day hike to get to the pass. The plan was to be up at the pass and photograph twilight over the Reef icefield, and then hike out by headlamp back to my tent. Nice idea, but I'm no psychic.

It seemed like a beautiful full on sunny day as I crested the mountain plateau that leads to the pass. I was going to hunker down for a bit out of the wind, and share the plateau with some of the biggest marmots I have ever seen - about 1 million of them it seemed. Then, looking to the west, all bets were off. Coming in slow but sure was the smoky result of forest fires burning in B.C. This was not some small bit of smoke , but something like the size of Brazil in the air - a real game changer for photography.

To the east, towards the pass and the icefield, it was still pretty clear - but knowing that would not last long, I started up the last 500 meters to the pass in hopes of at least capturing the Icefield before the smoky haze arrived in force. About 200 metres from the pass, two cream coloured mountain goats came into view on the far side, moving in the same direction as I was. They knew where they were going, without maps.

We did a bit of a dance, the goats and I, as we approached the pass together. I gave them their space, and in return they gave me this image. No result of winter dreaming here - no intense visualization. Just composing what nature gave. And what a gift it was - a pair of mountain goats in a sublime Canadian Rockies setting. It's what getting into the wild is all about - the opportunity of capturing the essense of an area and/or it's wildlife in a special situation. During that evening and for the week after, the air was filled with acrid smoke, and visibility was poor.

Can't wait to get back there. If you do go, see if Chris Zimmerman is around. He's a Park Ranger and a great guy who knows the area as good as the goats do.

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APR
28
2011

Exhibit at the Art Gallery of Golden

MOUNTAIN TIME
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Throughout May, Darcy has an exhibit at the Art Gallery of Golden. Almost all the images being shown are new. We're excited about this show. It's called "Mountain Time". The opening is at 7 pm on April 29th. The exhibit includes 10 big prints (2 x 3 feet), and we will have a number of smaller editions available as well. Hope to see you there. For a preview of many of the images, click here

APR
01
2011

TANGLING ELK
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Our Print of the Month for April 2011 is "Tangling Elk".
Click the image to see more: