Distant

If you know me well, you know that I love adventure. Canada was no different. Each night I would search on Google Maps and find a spot I thought would be interesting for sunset. The problem was that I had no method of transportation, meaning bike or car, but I did have two legs. For this and the next image, I walked two miles to the Vermillion Lakes to capture the sunset. Should I have stayed out that late? Probably not, but thank you, mom, for picking me up and driving me home after it got dark!

Peaks

Another reason I enjoyed our trip to Canada so much was the weather. The highest high was eighty degrees, and the temperature dropped to around fifty at night. Additionally, during most of the days, there was significant cloud cover, which allowed me to take images like this. While editing, I made sure to increase the contrast and sharpness to make the sky even moodier and show off the mountains' details.

 

Mountain Roads

During one of our daily adventures, we took the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain. The views from the boardwalk were incredible, but me being me, I had to explore on some random hiking path. I followed the trail for about half a mile to this spot, where I could see the Trans-Canada Highway turning to the northwest. I used my telephoto lens once again and captured this image. I added a few blue and green filters on top of the piece to produce this final version.

 

Time

Another piece of equipment I am glad I brought on this trip was a variable neutral density filter and a tripod. These two items allowed me to control the shutter speed and create images like these. I adjusted the filter to its darkest setting, set the camera on a tripod, and let it run for twenty-five seconds. I captured the waves crashing in the lower part of the image, clouds cast with sunset colors moving in the upper half, and a cool breeze from the water telling me I should have worn pants.

 

Atop

I have recently focused on aerial photography, and when I use my camera, it is with my wide-angle lens. This trip was a nice reset as most images came from my camera, and I was rotating between my wide-angle and telephoto lenses. For this piece, I was scanning the ground to see if I could spot any bears or other wildlife, then looked up and found this person hiking along the ridge. I utilized the 300mm zoom on my telephoto lens to enlarge the hiker as best I could, then took this photo.

 

Roads

Later that night, I took flight with the drone to see the landscape from a new perspective. I found what I believe is a hiking path and centered it in the image. It creates a nice separation for the picture and contrasts the rows of trees. Then while editing, I changed the color of the trees from a lush green to more of an orange tone to increase the sunset effect.

 

Serenity

As the sun set on our first night, I wanted to find somewhere to capture it. I took a quick walk to Bow Falls, where I was delighted with views of the fall and Mt Peechee. The majority of people were looking at the falls, but I found this view more interesting since the sun was cast against the mountain.