A hike through Johnston Canyon
A trio of waterfall photos from the amazing Johnston Canyon, outside of Banff, Canada...
A must see spot when you are in Banff!
As you have heard me say before, Banff is magical. That entire area is a dream for photography and nature lovers. Everything is beautiful, and it's all pretty close too. Johnston Canyon is about a 30 minute drive from the town of Banff, and well worth every minute.
As the name implies, it's a canyon with a gorgeous river running through it. You hike a trail alongside the river for about 1.5 hours or so (I can't remember exactly, but it's uphill and you stop every 20 feet for a photo!) until you reach the large waterfall at the top.
This was my 3rd visit there in my lifetime, and I would go again today if I could. There is an interesting view at every turn as you wind your way up the trail through the canyon, following this beautiful river the entire time. Stop and take photos, sit and have a snack, and just enjoy this incredible location.
Peyto Lake, finally
A destination that has been on my list for years, and I finally made it!
I've been wanting to visit this lake for years!
This is one of those things that you see online and say to yourself "I have to go there someday". That someday happened recently for me, and I'm glad that it did. Peyto Lake is about an hour and a half north of Banff, Canada which for me was a no-brainer. That's pretty close considering I was coming from Texas!
So I spent a day out on a photo tour with my daughter. What I was surprised to find is that the viewing deck that I took this photo from is only about a 10 minute hike from the parking lot. For some reason I assumed that a view like this required some serious work, but thankfully it didn't. You literally pull off the highway into the parking area and hike for 10 minutes. Then you fire away like mad and celebrate the fact that you made it here after all these years!
By the way, doesn't the lake look like a wolf's head?
The grandeur of Moraine Lake
Here's a super long exposure (3:20) of Moraine Lake at sunset...such fun and such interesting results.
Wow, what a place! I already want to go back!
I absolutely loved it here at Moraine Lake outside of Banff, in the Canadian Rockies. It's about an hour from Banff and worth every minute of your time, believe me. This place is just incredibly gorgeous, even if you don't care about taking photos. Just look at it!
This photo is my favorite from this trip, thus far. I had climbed up to the top of the rock pile that sits at the end of the lake, and had been taking some HDR brackets before I decided to go for a long exposure. I used my MeFoto Roadtrip tripod, and my Vu Filters 10 stop filter. Although I usually shoot in Aperture mode, for these long exposures I use Manual.
Once in Manual Mode, I choose Bulb and then make sure I have my remote trigger attached to the camera. I use it to depress the shutter, and lock it in place until the time is reached. It's a bit of experimentation trying to find the right exposure time and f/stop for these shots. I moved it around a little until I got something that looked good. It's fun to experiment with these, especially with the 10 stop filter since you can get such long exposures.
Sony A7II, f/16, ISO 100, 16-35mm wide angle lens, 200 seconds
Sunset at Moraine Lake
The first of many photos I will be sharing of Moraine Lake, this one taken during a lovely sunset...
Although I am still on the road, I am trying to find time to edit some of the many shots I took at Moraine Lake. It's an incredibly beautiful spot!
I may go on record and say Moraine Lake is the most beautiful spot I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot. It's just so breathtaking. During our time in Banff, we spent two evenings here while I was firing away. I have a lot of shots to get to but wanted to start with this one.
Sunset was pretty stellar on that evening and I was atop the large rock pile at the end of the lake. There's an easy trail you can walk on to get to the top, and numerous points where you can set up and start shooting. I wandered all over looking for multiple vantage points and found plenty.
I will be sharing a LOT more photos from this spot, not just because I have them, but because this place really got into my soul in a way. I have been here before but this was the first time I have really photographed Moraine Lake. I hope to return someday and do it all again.
This photo is a 3 exposure HDR built using Aurora HDR by Macphun (learn how right here) and then some adjustments were made in Luminar using some of my presets (you can find those here).
iPhone fun at Moraine Lake
How about a group of iPhone shots from Canada? I was here at Moraine Lake last Friday night, and the sunset was INCREDIBLE!
A stunning sunset at an incredible location!
We are in the midst of a lengthy family roadtrip, and spent last week in Banff, Canada. It's a beautiful little mountain town with an incredible amount of beautiful scenery to photograph nearby. One of the best spots is Moraine Lake, which is less than an hour away by car.
We spent last Friday night there, with me standing on a large pile of rocks firing brackets into the sunset. It was pretty awesome, I will admit it. Most of the visit to Banff was under clear, blue skies and somewhat colorless sunsets, but this one lit up nicely and I was a very happy guy!
These are just a few of the iPhone shots I took, while also firing like crazy with my Sony camera. I haven't had any time to slow down and process my Sony shots, so I thought I would share a few iPhone shots for a change. These were all taken in the ProHDR app (it blends two exposures to make the HDR) and then some minor adjustments were made in Snapseed. Enjoy!
Winter in the Canadian Rockies
This is from outside of Banff, in the Canadian Rockies. We spent the morning dogsledding, which is an absolute blast if you haven't tried it, and during a break in the action I walked around to take some shots. Really, it is so beautiful that it is hard not to get a gorgeous shot in this area. Everything is just perfect and covered in snow I think makes it that much prettier. It was really cold though, so that makes it a little hard to take photos since your fingers are freezing - but it's worth it!
This is a single exposure taken at f/8. I made some minor adjustments in Aperture and PSE and that's it!
A quiet winter river
If you haven't been, make it a point to get to Banff at some point in your life. It is a remarkable little town situated about 2 hours west of Calgary, Canada in the Canadian Rockies - and it is wonderful. One of the great things about Banff is that it is inside of a National Park, so development is limited. There are no big chain stores or anything of the sort. It is just simple and beautiful. This river runs through the woods on the edge of town, sort of behind The Banff Springs Hotel - the large "castle" hotel in town. In this scene I like the gentle arch of the bridge, the blue in the water and the slight yellow tint of the young trees in the foreground.