The Banff Springs Hotel
Photo of the Day
Being only an hour’s drive away from my childhood hometown of Calgary, I’ve had the chance to visit Banff numerous times. On my most recent visit to Calgary, I stopped there briefly with my family and I asked them to stop at a place I had never actually visited: a little corner on the edge of town called Surprise View. There, a great view of the Banff Springs Hotel greets anyone with time enough to stop.
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Calgary Stampede Fireworks Panorama
Photo of the Day
The view of Calgary and its skyline from Scotsman’s Hill is classic, but when you throw in the fireworks of the Calgary Stampede grandstand show, the sight is even more stellar.
Watching the fireworks from Scotsman’s Hill was a mandatory part of growing up in Calgary, so I had been to this exact spot plenty of times before and I knew roughly what I wanted to try to capture. I got there early, since I know the prime spots fill up fast. After all, you can watch the chuckwagon races from up there for free – crowds start forming hours before the fireworks begin.
So, that leaves plenty of time to watch the chucks, dodge mosquitoes, check out the sunset, set up the tripod and chat with fellow fireworks aficionados.
On this particular night, the threat of rain hung in the air the whole evening. We were mostly spared the drizzle until the fireworks began and the rain made taking photos a bit awkward. Water on the lens wasn’t really the effect I was going for here, so my umbrella was open above my camera and I had a cloth handy to clean my lens when errant drops got through. The result is that I didn’t get quite as many shots to choose from since I spent half my time keeping my gear dry, but I managed to get enough to piece together the panorama below.
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Bow Lake
Photo of the Day
On my recent trip through Banff National Park, the weather left something to be desired. Considering how relentlessly sunny Calgary had been, I had hoped that the trend would continue further west. On this occasion, that wasn’t the case, but there are ways of making some interesting pictures even if the light doesn’t cooperate as you might like.
One of those ways is to give the scene a more mysterious feeling by substantially lengthening the exposure time. Thanks to a trusty 10-stop neutral density filter, exposures become long enough to smear the clouds and turn water into glass.
That’s just what this shot of the blue glacial waters of Bow Lake needed to bring it to life. The brilliant colour of the lake is the star attraction in this shot, but the mountains beyond are nothing to sneeze at either. The mostly overcast day, however, just wasn’t all that flattering, so the ND filter came out of the bag of tricks and the more ethereal result is what you see here.
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Please visit my Southern Alberta gallery to see more images from this region.
Castle Mountain at Dusk
Photo of the Day
One of my favourite sights in Canada’s Banff National Park is Castle Mountain. The giant, imposing tower of rock looms over the landscape like the fortress of a villain in a fantasy story.
I had hoped to get more help from the sun and clouds for this image, but would have to be satisfied by a sultry glow on the horizon while the blue of dusk descended.
This view was actually overshadowed by the trip back to Lake Louise. While driving along the Trans Canada Highway, we approached one of the wildlife crossings that arch over the road and allow animals access to either side. As we got closer, we saw right at the edge nearest us, a grizzly bear slowly loping across the bridge and we drive directly underneath him!
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Darby Sawchuk is a Canadian-born photographer who currently resides in Manchester, England. He has travelled to over 40 countries and is always adding more to the list. He creates stock for multiple agencies and is available for assignments.
+44 0790 992 8932
