There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more”
Nothing connects me with nature more than witnessing an alpine scenery like this one, a boundless vista of mountains, lakes and greenery. Here is to one last whiff before winter takes over this life-giving landscape.
Banff National Park
AB USA
Regrowth
The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. And up here, high in the alpine terrain of the Canadian Rockies, where large icefields give birth to glaciers, spring starts in July, and summer only lasts a month. Yet, plants thrive in this harsh environment, albeit barely. And reward us with beautiful pastel colors on a soft green carpet.
Canadian Rockies
AB Canada
Cold Reflections
The silent shores of Lake Minnewanka were eerie on that cold dreary morning. The clouds sucked away the sunny disposition of the Rockies, leaving behind the still waters of the lake, with only the green conifers to give me company.
It was supposed to be colorful sunrise in the mighty Canadian Rockies, but with the sudden change of weather, I had to make a sudden change of plans, and I found myself shooting the ghostly cold shores of Lake Minnewanka.
Lake Minnewanka
AB Canada
Seeking Light
There are times when light lines up. And when that happens in the mountains, it can lead to an explosion of color like nothing else. And as a photographer, you have to be at the right place at the right time to capture nature's showtime.
I was fortunate to be at the right place to capture this one. The summer days in the Canadian Rockies, during the week I spent exploring the nooks and crannies of the montane terrain, were 16 hour long days filled with vibrant moments like these inbetween long periods of cloudy weather. But these vivid interludes more than made up for the exhausting week in the beautiful Rockies.
Saskatchewan Crossing
AB Canada
Lost in the Rockies
The trail was long and hard. It wound its way through the dense coniferous forest, rising with slow certainty towards an as of yet unseen vista. I was laboring heaving with the weight of my camera gear, wondering how much further the destination was. And after more than an hour of uphill slow, the vegetation thinned out, and the views expanded. I turned around, and the entire vista of Maligne Lake expanded in front of me.
There is perhaps nothing more exhilerating that seeing the endless cascades of the snow-capped mountains rising up from a velvety green forest floor. And I have been fortunate in being able to visit and pay homage to the grandeur of the Canadian Rockies, perhaps the most beautiful of them all.
It was as though the stereotypical mountain landscapes that we drew as a kid came to life, except it was far more majestic and awe-inspiring. Bare sedimentary rock faces were alternately in light and shadow as the clouds cast dappled light on the rugged landscape, while towering peaks with glacial remnants shone in pearly white. Maligne Lake slowly tapered off in the distance towards its source, lost in the multitude of canyons.
As I watched this scene slowly transpiring, an old quote from John Muir popped in my head: "We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us."
Maligne Lake
AB Canada
You can find more of my photography in my 2018 calendar, available here: https://goo.gl/Nd7p9G. All proceeds go to NRDC and WildAid, two non-profits whose missions I wholly support.
Glaciated Blues
My visions for the Canadian Rockies comprised of grand glacial-blue lakes guarded by towering snow-capped peaks lined by massive glaciers, and a layer of evergreen forest carpeting the landscape below. And from the air, it most certainly looked like that. However, it was not until I explored the various lakes nestled deep within the glaciated valleys that I got to realize those visions.
Perhaps the most characteristic of these lakes is the Moraine Lake, set in one such valley just south of Lake Louise. From the shore, the look looked unremarkable, similar to the other lakes in the area. But after climbing up to get the aerial perspective, I got to see the true colors of the landscape it was surrounded by, with the grey skies enhancing the muted colors of the scene.
Despite the throngs of crowds visiting that lake, I still had felt solace and a sense of belonging to this beautiful naturescape. The craggy peaks, the vast carpet of green surrounding the azure blue lake, and the fresh scent of mountain air rejuvenated my senses, and I, for one, was better for it.
This was shot with a graduated ND filter at F/11 and 1/200s at ISO 800
Moraine Lake
AB Canada