winter – the life of a nature photographer

Focusing

Thursday, May 24th, 2018

Cutting a hole in the lake ice for drinking water. Taken in Lakeland Provincial Recreation Area.

I haven’t posted here for a while now. If you’ve been following me on Instagram or Facebook, I haven’t been there either. What’s up?

A bunch of things. I’ve been on many different journeys lately. I’ve been moderately successful trying to spend more time in the natural world with people and rivers and trees and a little less on my computer or phone. I’ve also been spending more time learning. Focusing. I don’t mean to say these things can’t be compatible with an online presence, but for me lately it has been helpful to take a break. And I will be continuing to take a break. This summer I will be canoeing in the arctic for two months – on the Hood River and MacKay Lake! But I won’t be live-blogging or checking messages. I hope to do a lot of photography and maybe some video up there, but the focus will be the people I’m with and the learning and research I’ll be doing.

I’ll leave a few photos from some of the adventures I’ve been on over the last few months. There has been some photography trips for the Royal Alberta Museum, some really cold snowshoeing, some winter camping, some spring camping, and quite a bit of canoeing which will continue throughout the summer. I hope you have your own adventures planned – anything from walks in the park to epic expeditions. Even looking at pictures of nature (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4690962/) can lower stress levels, but nothing compares to actually immersing yourself in it.

Sunset over Medicine Lake in Jasper.

Taking pictures for the Royal Alberta Museum in dreadfully cold weather.

Poplars and willows reflected in spring floodwaters.

The Rockies in winter.

Sleeping under the stars at -20. Yes, there’s someone in there.

The joy of a fire in winter.

Clear lake ice.

Warm winter camping at -40.

Swamps are perfect for winter camping – lots of firewood and easily accessible.

Winter camping is a lot of work – cutting firewood, thawing food, finding or melting water, stamping down the snow under your tent, setting up camp, and staying on top of wearing the right layers depending on how hard you’re currently working.

Opening up the water hole in the morning – 4 inches of ice had formed overnight.

A curious whitetail deer.

A herd of Bighorn Sheep in Sheep River Provincial Park – how appropriate.

Getting a little tippy at Devil’s Elbow on the North Saskatchewan River. They saved this one though.

Memory and Promise

Camping, Landscape, Mountain

Thursday, February 18th, 2016

The prospect of backpacking this summer has me pretty excited. It’s come up a few different ways in the past few weeks and it has me studying google maps, reading trip descriptions, dreaming, and remembering past trips. It’s not the most immediate thing, but it is a familiar thing I can come back to. In a couple weeks I’m going ski touring and winter camping for a few days, which will be new for me. New things come with both excitement and nervousness. But backpacking will be like climbing into a warm sleeping bag, like curling up with a purring cat. This photo is from quite a while ago in Banff National Park. I was looking through some old photos and reliving some old trips.

Banff National Park
32mm, f6.7 1/180 of a second

Colours to Brighten a Winter Day

Abstract, Macro, Photo of the Day

Thursday, January 30th, 2014

150mm, f2.8, 1/640 of a second

There are so many different things to learn and ways to expand photography, art, and paths of thought. My photos tend to be visual and design oriented. I recently started creating some videos and that’s been pushing me to think about story or narrative. This is an area which I think could improve my photography as well.

I received “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell as a Christmas gift, and have started reading it. It’s a really interesting mix of fairly dense academic writing, ridiculous un-academic assertions, and inspiring observations about human experience. I’m not very far in yet, and I’ll update with further observations, but it does prompt me to think differently about art. And I love that.

Stark

Forest, Photo of the Day, Winter

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

A burnt log in a mountain forest. Taken in Banff National Park.

100mm, f5.6, 1/1600 of a second

Split

Mountain, Winter

Monday, March 25th, 2013

From a recent trip to Jasper.

300mm, 1/2000 of a second, f5.6

Amazing Ice

Abstract, Macro, Photo of the Day, Water, Winter

Thursday, January 31st, 2013

A very small ice formation I found along the Sunwapta River.

f8, 1/1000 of a second, 90mm

Enjoying Winter Again

Abstract, Camping, Photo of the Day, Water, Winter

Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

Last weekend Anna and I finally got a chance to get out to the mountains, and it was a trip for trying new things. For the first time ever we tried snowshoeing together, cross-country skiing together, and winter camping. I was also giving my Olympus OM-D a torture test to see how much it could replace my Canon 5D kit for hiking.

Snowshoeing works great and is my new favorite way of getting around in winter. It lets me get wherever I want in any conditions with my hands free for photography, which is perfect for me. Skiing was a lot more fun as an activity, but I found it quite hard to mix with photography. Winter camping actually worked a lot better than expected and we slept cosily through the whole night!

I’ll post a review of my little OM-D in a bit, for now I’ll just start posting pictures from it. This photo is from Panther Falls — icicles forming against an overcast sky. I’m looking forward to printing this pretty large — the details in the ice are fantastic!

f7.1, 1/1600 of a second, 100mm
(I’ll be stating actual focal length here, not equivalent – more on this in my OM-D review)

Playing in the Snow

Wildlife, Winter

Sunday, December 2nd, 2012

I just got some excellent snowshoes to make my winter excursions a little easier than in past years (I’m used to slogging it with just my winter boots). And hopefully I can get out to a bunch of new places. I tested them out in Elk Island National Park today and had a lot of fun. I came across this herd of bison hanging out with some unusual friends. Click on the image to make it larger to make it easier to spot them.

300mm, f5.6, 1/200 of a second